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III 



CO 

r 



THE 



"BELOVED OE THE LOED:" 



M 



SKETCH OF THE LIFE 



OP 



SOLOMON, 



THE LAST KING OF ISRAEL. 



"VTRITTEN FOR THE AMERICAir SUNDAY-SCHOOI, UNIOJf, AND REVISED 
BY THE COMMITTEE OI" PUBLICATION. 




PHILADELPHIA: 
AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

NO. 146 CHESTNUT STREET. 



BSSBO 

.36 Bf 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1845, by 
the American Sunday-school Union, in the clerk's office of the 
District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 







PEEFACE. 



The American Sunday-school Union have 
always regarded scripture biography as one 
of the most important departments of sacred 
literature, and as especially interesting to the 
young. The lives of David, of Jacob and his 
son Joseph, of Daniel, and of the patriarchs, 
prophets and apostles, have been prepared 
with care, and some of them with great skill. 
It is true, that the materials of such memoirs 
must be obtained from the sacred books ; but 
it adds not a little to the intelligibility and 
impressiveness of the divine record, to collect 
and present its sketches of character in one 
view, accompanying them with such explana- 
tory illustrations • and observations as other 
authentic history, ancient or modern, may 
suggest. This has been the design of the 



8 PREFACE. 

author in preparing the present volume. 
There are many incidents mentioned in the 
history of Solomon, which seem, to a careless 
reader, to border very closely on fiction, and 
yet, perhaps, there is no eminent personage, 
of Old Testament times, whose biography 
presents fewer difficulties of this nature than 
that of Solomon. By comparing the de- 
scriptions of his court, the magnificence, 
power and achievements of his reign, with 
those of other oriental monarchs, we find the 
strongest confirmation of the inspired history. 
The author hopes that by connecting the in- 
teresting memoir of this greatest of earthly 
potentates, with the counsels of heavenly 
wisdom which fell from his lips, a more 
general interest may be excited in both, espe- 
cially among the young. 



THE 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 



CHAPTER I. 



The birth of Solomon, and the arrangements for 
building the Temple. 

David, the son of Jesse, was bom in the 
village of Bethlehem, in the province of 
Judah, a few miles south of Jerusalem, in 
the year of the world 2919, or a;bout 1100 
years before the birth of Christ. He was 
the youngest of eight sons, and was em- 
ployed in the care of his father's sheep. 

At the age of thirty-seven, he ascended 

the throne of Israel, to which he had been 

appointed many years before, and he 
1* 9 



10 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

reigned upwards of thirty years, with great 
splendour and renown.* Several of his 
acts are so interwoven with the early his- 
tory of Solomon, that it is necessary to call 
them to mind. 

Soon after he began to reign, and his 
fame as warrior and statesman had gone 
abroad, Hiram, king of Tyre, showed his 
respect and friendship for him, by supply- 
ing him with building materials and work- 
men for the erection of a house, or palace, 
at Jerusalem, the seat of his government ; 
and thus commenced an intercourse be- 
tween the Hebrews and Tyrians, as advan- 
tageous to the commerce and enterprise of 
the latter, as to the domestic and agricul- 
tural interests of the former. 



* A very interesting account of the events o-f his 
life, and the traits of his character, may be found 
in the " Life of David," by the late Mrs. Hooker, 
published by the American Sunday-school Union. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 11 

One day, as King David was sitting in 
his palace, and reflecting upon the signal 
victories which God had given him over 
all his enemies, and congratulating himself 
upon the peace and comfort which he, at 
length, enjoyed, it occurred to him that 
there w^as something quite inconsistent in 
his occupation of such a magnificent house, 
built with great labour and skill, and of 
the most costly materials, w^hile the ark of 
God, that sacred and mysterious symbol of 
the divine presence, was protected only by 
the curtains of a temporary tabernacle !^ 

He disclosed his feelings to Nathan, (a 
prophet of the Lord,) whose reply rather 
favoured his views ; but in the course of 

* And it came to pass, when the king sat in his 
house, and the Lorb had given him rest round 
about from all his enemies, that the king said unto 
Nathan the prophet. See now, I dwell in a house 
of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth- within cur- 
tains. And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that 



12 LIFE OF SOLOJMON. 

the following night, God gave that prophet 
a message for David, by which all his 
plans were entirely changed. This mes- 
sage was, in substance, that neither was 
that the time, nor was he the person to 
prepare a permanent dwelling-place for the 

is in thine heart : for the Lord is with thee. And it 
came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord 
came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant 
David, thus saith the Lord, shalt thou build me a 
house for me to dwell inl Whereas I have not 
dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up 
the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this 
day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. 
In all the places wherein I have walked with all 
the children of Israel spake I a word with any of 
the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my 
people Israel, saying. Why build ye not me an house 
of cedar 1 Now therefore, so shalt thou say unto 
my servant David, thus saith the Lord of hosts, I 
took thee from the sheepcote, from following the 
sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel : and 
I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and 
have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and 
have made thee a great name, like unto the name 
of the great men that are in the earth. Moreover, 
I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 13 

ark ; that the same faithful and unchange- 
able God, who had guided him and his 
subjects through all their reverses and 
trials to their present state of peace and 
prosperity, would protect and provide for 
his family; and that one of his children 
should execute the purpose he had so 
piously formed, touching the erection of a 
temple for the Lord. 

David was very grateful to God for 

plant thenij that they may dwell in a place of their 
own, and move no more ; neither shall the children 
of wickedness afflict them any more as beforetime. 
And as since the time that I commanded judges to 
he over my people Israel, and have caused thee to 
rest from all thine enemies; also the Lord telleth 
thee that he will make thee an house. And when 
thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy 
fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which 
shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish 
his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, 
and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for 
ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. 
If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the 
rod of men, and with the stripes of the children 



14 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

these gracious promises, and expressed his 
overflowing faith and gratitude in language 
of inimitable fervour and simplicity.* 

of men : but my mercy shall not depart away from 
him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away be- 
fore thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall 
be established for ever before thee: thy throne 
shall be established for ever. According to all 
these words, and according to all this vision, so did. 
Nathan speak imto David. — 2 Sam. vii. 1 — 17. 

* Then went king David in, and sat before the 
Lord, and he said. Who am I, O Lord God ? and 
what is my house, that thou hast brought me hith- 
erto ; and this was yet a small thing in thy sight, 
O Lord God ; but thou hast spoken also of thy ser- 
vant's house for a great while to come. And is 
this the manner of man, O Lord God 1 And what 
can David say more unto thee ] for thou. Lord God, 
knowest thy servant. For thy word's sake, and 
according to thine own heart, hast thou done all 
these great things, to make thy servant know them. 
Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there 
is none like thee, neither is there any God beside 
thee, according to all that we have heard with our 
ears. And what one nation in the earth is like thy 
people, eve7i like Israel, whom God went to redeem 
for a people to himself, and to make him a name, 
and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 15 

It was less than two years after this that 
God gave David a son, whom he called 
Solomon, from the Hebrew word, Shele- 
mah, which means peaceable. Some have 
supposed that this name was to designate 

land, before thy people which thou redeemedst to 
thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods 1 
For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people 
Israel to be a people unto thee for ever : and thou^ 
Lord, art become their God. And now, O Lord 
God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning 
thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it 
for ever, and do as thou hast said. And let thy 
name be magnified for ever, saying, the Lord of 
hosts is the God over Israel : and let the house of 
thy servant David be established before thee. For 
thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed 
to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house i 
therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to 
pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord God, 
thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou 
hast promised this goodness unto thy servant: 
therefore now let it please thee to bless the house 
of thy servant, that it may continue for ever be- 
fore thee: for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it: 
and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant 
be blessed for ever. — 2 Sam. \ ii. 18 — 29. 



16 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

him as the successor of David, and was, at 
the same time, prophetic of the general 
peace that should characterize his reign. 
The name Jedediah (which means, beloved 
of the Lord) was also given to him by 
God's express command, and as a token 
of peculiar favour ; for the historian in- 
forms us, that " the Lord loved him." 

We may not find a more proper place to 
say, that the parents of Solomon were 
careful of his early training. This must 
be inferred from his own declarations on 
the subject, He says — 

For I was rny father's son, 

Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother, 
He taught me also, and said unto me, 
Let thine heart retain my words : 
Keep my commandments, and live. 
Get wisdom, get understanding: 
Forget it not ; neither decline from the words of 
my mouth. 

A more beautiful tribute to parental love 
and faithfulness is not to be found. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 17 

A year or two before David's death, he 
displeased God, by ordering a census of 
the kingdom. Perhaps he contemplated 
some ambitious enterprise, which would 
require all the force he could muster f or, it 
may be, that he sought to gratify his pride 
by knowing and registering the great num- 
ber of his subjects. 

For this sin of their monarch, God was 

pleased to punish the people of Israel by 

a dreadful pestilence, which, though it 

* At the time referred to, David probably coveted 
an extension of empire j and having, through the 
suggestion of an adversary, given way to this evil 
disposition, he could not well look to God for help, 
and therefore wished to know whether the thou- 
sands of Israel and Judah might be deemed equal 
to the conquest which he meditated. His design 
was to force all the Israelites into military service, 
and engage in the contests which his ambition had 
in view ; and as the people might resist this 
scheme, soldiers were employed to carry it through, 
who might not only put down resistance, but also 
suppress any disturbances that should arise. — 
[Home and Michaelis.] 

2 



18 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

raged less than three days, cut off seventy 
thousand men ! 

The angel who was commissioned by 
God to inflict this dreadful punishment, 
Y\^as seen, by the terrified king, standing 
between the earth and the heaven over the 
summit of Mount Moriah, with his sword 
extended over the city of Jerusalem, which 
lay in the valley beneath, as if he was 
about to destroy it. 

At this sight the king and the elders of 
Israel, who were gathered around him, all 
clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces, 
while David entreated God to spare the 
people, and to let the blow fall on himself 
as the only guilty party. ^^ Is it not I that 
commanded the people to be numbered? 
Even I it is that have sinned, and done 
evil indeed ; but as for these sheep, what 
have they done ? Let thy hand, I pray 
thee, Lord, my God ! be upon me and 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 19 

on my father's house, but not on thy people 
that they should be plagued." 

The stroke of the destroying angel was 
arrested, and David was commanded to 
build an altar on a particular spot, near by, 
which was then used as a place for thresh- 
ing grain. The owner of the place (who 
was a Jebusite by the name of Oman) 
offered it to David as a gift, for he had 
seen the angel, and was also informed by 
David to what use the site was to be put. 
He not only offered him the threshing-floor, 
which, from its location, we may suppose 
to have been very valuable, but he wished 
him to take also the oxen then employed 
in treading out the grain, and offer them as 
a burnt- offering, and the threshing instru- 
ments for fuel for the altar, and the wheat 
upon the floor as a meat-offering. Such 
cheerful and liberal contributions to the 
service of God, under the typical and 



20 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

shadowy dispensation of David's time, 
severely rebuke the temper and habits of 
many of the professed disciples of Christ 
in our day. It would scarcely be believed 
of some of them, that they are followers 
of Him '^ who though he was rich, yet for 
our sakes became poor, that we through 
his poverty might be rich." 

But David declined Oman's gifts, and 
insisted on paying the full price of the 
site. And when he had built the altar, 
(probably in much haste,) he at once offered 
the required sacrifice, of which God signi- 
fied his acceptance by ca\ising fire to de- 
scend from heaven upon the altar and 
consume the victim ; and forthwith the 
destroying angel was commanded to sheath 
his sword. 

The tabernacle and its appendages, 
which the Israelites had brought with them 
out of the wilderness, were at this time in 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 21 

Gibeon, a village six or eight miles north 
from Jerusalem. But David having now 
set apart, for the temple and worship of 
Jehovah, the site he had purchased and 
the altar on w^hich his offering had been 
miraculously consumed, he immediately 
began to collect, on this spot, the materials 
lor the House of the Lord, such as tim- 
ber, stone, iron, brass, silver, and gold. 
His feeling was, that if he could not ac- 
tually build a dwelling-place for the Most 
High, he might at least crave the privilege 
of doing what was in his power to advance 
the work ; and it is in this temper that 
many missionaries and Sunday-school teach- 
ers must labour, when the probability is 
very strong that others, and not themselves, 
will reap, with joy, the harvest which they 
sow in tears. By this course, also, Solo- 
mon, who was still quite a youth, and un- 
skilled perhaps in business of this nature, 
2* 



22 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

was relieyed from much labour and per- 
plexity. He was at this time probably not 
more than eighteen or twenty years old. 

When, at length, this preparatory work 
was accomplished, the king called Solomon 
into his presence, and after informing him 
what had been his own purpose respecting 
the building of the temple, and how it had 
been overruled, he proceeded with much 
earnestness and solemnity to instruct and 
encourage the young prince in the great 
work which was reserved for him : 

^'My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build 
an house unto the name of the Loud my God: but 
the word of the Lord came to me, saying. Thou 
hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great 
wars : thou shalt not build an house unto my 
name, because thou hast shed much blood upon 
the earth in my sight. Behold ! a son shall be 
born to thee, who shall be a man of rest ; and I 
will give him rest from all his enemies round 
about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will 
give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. 
He shall build an house for my name ; and he shall 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 23 

be my son, and I will be his father; and I will es- 
tablish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for 
ever. Now, my son, the Lord be w^ith thee ; and 
prosper thou, and build the house of the Lord thy 
God, as he hath said of thee. Only the Lord give 
thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee 
charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep 
the law of the Lord thy God. Then shalt thou 
prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes 
and judgments which the Lord charged Moses 
with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good 
courage; dread not, nor be dismayed. 

" Now, behold ! in ray trouble I have prepared 
for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand 
talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of 
silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for 
it is in abundance : timber also and stone have I 
prepared ; and thou mayest add thereto. Moreover 
there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers 
and workers of stone and timber, and all manner 
of cunning men for every manner of Avork. Of 
the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, 
there is no number. Arise therefore, and be doing, 
and the Lord be with thee," 

And he also issued his proclamation to 
the officers of the kingdom, requiring them 
to co-operate in the enterprise. 

" Is not the Lord your God with you 1 and hath 



24 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

he not given you rest on every side 1 for he hath 
given the inhabitants of the land into mine hand; 
and the land is subdued before the Lord, and be- 
fore his people. Now set your heart and your 
soul to seek the Lord your God ; arise therefore, 
and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to 
bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the 
holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be 
built to the name of the Lord." 

After these arrangements were com- 
pleted, David constituted Solomon his suc- 
cessor in the government of Israel, and 
divided the people into classes for various 
religious and secular services which we 
need not specify. He then summoned into 
his presence the heads of the various de- 
partments, and other officers of the go- 
vernment, to listen to his last injunctions. 
The scene must have been one of great 
interest and sublimity. 

The renowned king of the nation, 
whose exalted character as a wise ruler, a 
brave captain, a firm patriot, a generous 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 25 

ally, a magnanimous enemy, and a faithful 
servant of God, will live in the latest age 
of the world, was about to go the way of 
all the earth ! His crown and sceptre were 
now to be resigned to the youthful prince 
who was standing at his side. Believing 
the glorious promises which had been di- 
vinely communicated to him respecting the 
prosperity of his kingdom, and having in 
his own experience the most conclusive 
evidence that those who honour God, God 
will honour, he is naturally anxious to im- 
press the representatives of the nation then 
present, as well as its future sovereign, 
with a just sense of their responsibleness 
to the King of kings, and the Judge of 
the judges of the earth. 

To this end he recounts, in the most 
simple and touching manner, the gracious 
dealings of God with him and his family : 

" Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and 



26 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people ! Jls 
for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of 
rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and 
for the footstool of our God, and had made ready 
for the building : but God said unto me. Thou shalt 
not build an house for my name, because thou hast 
been a man of war, and hast shed blood. Howbeit 
the Lord God of Israel chose me before all the 
house of my father to be king over Israel for ever : 
for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler ; and of 
the house of Judah, the house of my father; and 
among the sons of my father he liked me to make 
me king over all Israel: and of all my sons, (for 
the Lord hath given me many sons,) he hath 
chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of 
the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. And he said 
unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house 
and my courts : for I have chosen him to be my 
son, and I will be his father. Moreover I will es- 
tablish his kingdom for ever, if he be constant to 
do my commandments and my judgments, as at this 
day. Now therefore in the sight of all Israel the 
congregation of the Lord, and in the audience of 
our God, keep and seek for all the commandments 
of the Lord your God: that ye may possess this 
good land, and leave it for an inheritance for your 
children after you for ever." 

What history furnishes an example of 

wiser or more eloquent counsel from the 



JP. Z9. 




BAVID'S CHARGE TO SQLOMOl^ CONCERN^ THE BIOLDLNG OF 
THE TEMPLE. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 29 

lips of a ruler to the subjects of his go- 
vernment? How simple yet sublime the 
language ! How weighty and comprehen- 
sive the motives ! How just and elevated 
the rule of conduct ! How impressive and 
affecting the whole scene ! 

Then turning to his son, he said — 

" And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God 
of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart 
and with a willing mind : for the Lord searcheth 
all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations 
of the thoughts : if thou seek him, he will be found 
of thee ; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee 
oiF for ever. Take heed now; for the Lord hath 
chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary : 
be strong, and do if." 

With this affectionate but earnest ex- 
hortation, the king committed to Solomon 
the plan (and perhaps a model) of the 
temple, and a catalogue or inventory of 
the materials he had collected, and of 
what more would be required for the 
building, and for its furniture and service. 



30 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

"And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong 
and of good courage, and do it : fear not, nor be 
dismayed : for the Lord God, even my God, will be 
with thee ; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, 
"until thou hast finished all the work for the service 
of the house of the Lord. And, behold, the 
courses of the priests and the Levites, even they 
shall be with thee for all the service of the house of 
God : and there shall be with thee for all manner of 
workmanship every willing skilful man, for any 
manner of service ; also the princes and all the 
people will be wholly at thy commandment." 

He then called upon the assembled 
chiefs and princes of the provinces for 
such contributions as they were disposed 
to make for this grand national enterprise, 
and they offered most willingly and abun- 
dantly.* The generous and cheerful re- 

* It may not be amiss to subjoin a sentence or 
two touching the probable amount of treasure 
which was accumulated for the temple of Solomon, 
especially as it has been the subject of skeptical 
criticism. In 1 Chronicles, chapter xxii., there is 
an account of the treasure collected by David as 
king, and in chapter xxix. of the same book, we 
are told what David contributed as an individual. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 



31 



sponse which the leading men of the na- 
tion gave to this first call for aid, doubtless 
stimulated the people generally to make 



and what the chief men added to it. 
form it would stand as follows : 



In a tabular 



By David, as kiner, 
— as an individual, 
By chief persons, 



100,COO 
3,000 
5,000 



1,000,000 
7,000 
10,000 

1,017,000 



Pounds— Troy Wt. 



12,500,000 
375,000 
625,000 

13,500,000 



125,000,000 

875,000 

1,250,000 



127,125,000 
Gold. 



Value in Eng. Money. 



Gold. 



600,000,000 
18,000,000 
30,000,000 



648,000,000 



375,000,000 
2,625,000 
3,750,000 

381,375,000 



Total vahie of g:old and silver, 

Total value in dollars and cents, at 23.4,44 per I. • 



• - 648,000,000 



■ Z. 1,029, 375,000 
/).4,570,425,000 



The value of gold at that time was to silver 
as 1 to 10. Dr. Arbuthnot, in his table of ancient 
currency, makes the total amount £800,000,000. 

It seems to be admitted on all hands, that this 
mode of reckoning is quite out of the question. 
That with the most liberal allowance for the trea- 
sure collected in the successful warfare which 
David waged with the neighbouring provinces,, 
together with all the tribute money they remitted, 
such a sum as is above named, or any thing ap- 
proaching to it, is quite incredible. It is said that 
the plunder of the rich country of India, by the 
modern conqueror Nadir Shah, would not make 
half this sum, nor, indeed, the combined treasures 
of all the kings in the world — that it would have 

3 



32 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

any sacrifices that might be necessaiy to 
accomplish the work. Any nation may 
justly congratulate itself, as a nation, when 

sufficed to build the whole temple of solid silver ; 
and finally, that if David had laid aside every year, 
for forty years, more than is annually expended at 
the present time by the government of the British 
empire, it would not have risen to such a vast 
amount. Without questioning these conclusions, 
we may say in relation to them all, that they are 
founded on assumptions not warranted by sound 
reasoning. The present debt of the British govern- 
ment is £885,186,324, which at $4.44 per pound, is 
$393,022,727,856. This is certainly a very near 
approach to the sum which is thought so incredible. 
There is no doubt, however, that the measures of 
value have materially changed, and that those of 
eastern nations, especiall5% are too uncertain to 
justify any calculations affecting the credibility of 
the sacred narrative. [See farther on this subject 
p. 102.] It should be observed generally, that the 
custom of the Asiatic sovereigns is still to amass 
large treasure in the precious metals, for the time 
of need, or for the execution of any important 
enterprise. The principles of currency, so well 
understood by modern statesmen in European coun- 
tries, as well as in our own land, were, in David's 
time, and are still, in some of the most powerful 



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LIFE OF SOLOMON. 35 

its rulers and magistrates are among the 
foremost and most liberal contributors to 
the diffusion of religious knowledge and 
of gospel blessings to all the people of 
their own land, and to the nations of the 
earth that sit in darkness. 

The contributions (some of which were 
in the form of vessels for ornament or use) 
being completed, and the design of assem- 
bling the senators and generals of the 
country accomplished, the aged monarch — 
his heart overflowing with joy and grati- 
tude to the Father of all mercies, and the 
God of all grace — broke forth in a strain 
of fervent thanksgiving and supplication : 

eastern nations, entirely unknown. It is therefore 
not astonishing that David, who had contemplated 
for so many years the expensive work of the tem- 
ple, should have accumulated avast stock of ma- 
terials ; nor that from the spoils and tribute of m.any 
conquered nations he should have amassed a great 
quantity of gold and silver. The burden of proof 
is on the objector. 



36 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

"Blessed he thou, Lord God of Israel, our father, 
for ever and ever. Thine, Lord, is the greatness, 
and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and 
the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the 
earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and 
thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches 
and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all ; 
and in thine hand is power and might ; and in thine 
hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto 
all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and 
praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and 
what is my people, that we should be able to oiTer 
so willingly after this sort? for all things come of 
thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For 
we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as 
were all our fathers ; our days on the earth are as a 
shadow, and there is none abiding. O Lord our 
God, all this store that we have prepared to build 
thee an hous& for thine holy name cometh of thine 
hand, and is all thine own. I know also, my God, 
that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in up- 
rightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine 
heart I have willingly offered all these things : and 
now have I seen with joy thy people, which are 
present here, to offer willingly unto thee, Lord 
God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, 
keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts 
of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart 
unto thee : and give unto Solomon my son a per- 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 37 

feet heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testi- 
monies, and thy statutes, and to do all these tJmigs, 
and to build the palace, for the which I have made 
provision." 

Then turning to the whole assembly, he 
said — ^'Now bless the Lord your God;" 
and they fell upon their faces and wor- 
shipped. 

Some months before the decease of Da- 
vid, an attempt w^as made by Adonijah, an 
elder son, to supplant his brother Solomon, 
but by the wise counsel of the old king it 
was defeated.* Solomon was forthwith 

* The inimitable beauty of the sacred narrative 
which contains the history of this revolt, the direc- 
tions of the sagacious monarch to the officers of 
his court, and the result of their expedition, cannot 
fail to strike the most cursory reader. And lest it 
should not be convenient to refer to a copy of the 
Bible, in connection with this allusion, we may be 
pardoned for transcribing the passage. 

"Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted 

himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared 

him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run 

before him. And his father had not displeased 

3^ 



38 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

anointed at Gihon, which was a ceremony 
of Uke force and effect as a coronation in 
modern times. This prompt and decisive 

him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so 1 
and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother 
bare him after Absalom. And he conferred with 
Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the 
priest: and they following Adonijah helped him. 
But Zadok, the priest, and Benaiah the son of 
Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and 
Rei, and the mighty men which belonged to David, 
were not with Adonijah. And Adonijah slew sheep 
and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, 
which is by En-rogel, and called all his -brethren 
the king's sons, and all the men of Judah the 
king's servants : but Nathan the prophet, and 
Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his 
brother, he called not. 

" Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bath-sheba, the 
mother of Solomon, saying. Hast thou not heard 
that Adonijah the son of Haggith doth reign, and 
David our lord knoweth it not? Now therefore 
come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that 
thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy 
son Solomon. Go and get thee in unto king David, 
and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, king ! 
swear unto thine handmaid, saying. Assuredly So- 
lomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 39 

measure which David prescribed, took the 
traitors by surprise. The first intimation 
they had of it, seems to have been in the 

"upon my throne 1 Why then doth Adonijah reign ] 
Behold ! while thou yet talkest there with the king, 
I also will come in after thee, and confirm thy 
words. 

" And Bath-sheba went in unto the king into the 
chamber : and the king was very old ; and Abishag 
the Shunammite ministered unto the king. And 
Bath-sheba bowed, and did obeisance unto the 
king. And the king said, What wouldest thou] 
And she said unto him, My lord, thou swarest by 
the Lord thy God unto thine handmaid saying, 
Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, 
and he shall sit upon my throne. And now, be- 
hold ! Adonijah reigneth ; and now, my lord the 
king, thou knowest it not: and he hath slain oxen 
and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath 
called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the 
priest, and Joab the captain of the host : but Solo- 
mon thy servant hath he not called. And thou, my 
lord, O king ! the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, 
that thou shouldest tell them who shall sit on the 
throne of my lord the king after him. Otherwise 
it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall 
sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon 
shall be counted offenders. 



40 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

shouts of the populace — God save King 
Solomon ! 

When these shouts rent the air, Adonijah 

" And, lo ! while she yet talked with the king, 
Nathan the prophet also came in. And they told 
the king, saying, Behold Nathan the prophet. And 
w^hen he was come in before the king, he bowed 
himself before the king with his face to the ground. 
And Nathan said. My lord, O king! hast thou said, 
Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon 
my throne] For he is gone down this day, and 
hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in. abun- 
dance, and hath called all the king's sons, and the 
captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest ; and, 
behold! they eat and drink before him, and say, 
God save king Adonijah. But me, even me thy 
servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son 
of Jehoiada, and thy servant Solomon, hath he not 
called. Is this thing done by my lord the king, and 
thou hast not showed it unto thy servant, who 
should sit on the throne of my lord the king after 
himi 

"Then king David answered and said, Call me 
Bath-sheba. And she came into the king's pre- 
sence, and stood before the king. And the king 
sware, and said, J[s the Lori) liveth, that hath re- 
deemed my soul out of all distress, even as I sware 
unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying. As- 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 41 

and his accomplices were filled with dis- 
may. They soon learned the particulars 

suredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and 
he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so 
will I certainly do this day. Then Bath-sheba 
bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence 
to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live 
for ever. 

"And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, 
and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of 
Jehoiada. And they came before the king. The 
king also said unto them, Take with you the ser- 
vants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to 
ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to 
Gihon ; and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the 
prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and 
blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king 
Solomon. Then ye shall come up after him, that 
he may come and sit upon my throne ; for he shall 
be king in my stead : and I have appointed him to 
be ruler over Israel and over Judah. And Benaiah 
the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, 
Amen : the Lord God of my lord the king say so 
too. As the Lord hath been with my lord the king, 
eyen so he be with Solomon, and make his throne 
greater than the throne of my lord king David. 

"So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, 
and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Chere- 
thites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused 



42 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

of Solomon's accession to the throne, and 

saw at once their exposure to punishment. 

Solomon to ride "upon king David's mule, and 
brought him to Gihon. And Zadok the priest took 
an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed 
Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the 
people said, God save king Solomon ! And all the 
people came up after him, and the people piped 
with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the 
earth rent with the sound of them. 

" And Adonijah and all the guests that tcere with 
him heard it, as they had made an end of eating. 
And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he 
said, Wherefore is this noise of the city being in an 
uproar 1 And while he yet spake, behold! Jona- 
than the son of Abiathar the priest came : and 
Adonijah said unto him, Come in ; for thou art a 
valiant man, and bringest good tidings. And Jon- 
athan answered and said to Adonijah, Verily our 
lord king David hath made Solomon king. And 
the king hath sent with him Zadok [he priest, and 
Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Je- 
hoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and 
theyhave caused him to ride upon the king's mule: 
and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have 
anointed him king in Gihon ; and they are come 
up from thence rejoicing, so that the city rang 
again. This is the noise that ye have heard. And 
also Solomon sitteth on the throne of the kingdom. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 43 

Most of them fxed to their own houses. 
Adonijah was conscious that the burden of 
guilt was upon him, and sought to shield 

And moreover the king's servants came to bless 
our lord king David, saying, God make the name 
of Solomon better than thy name, and make his 
throne greater than thy throne. And the king 
bowed himself upon the bed. And also thus said 
the king, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which 
hath given one to sit on my throne this day, mine 
eyes even seeing it. 

"And all the guests that irere with Adonijah w^e 
afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way. 
And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and 
arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of 
the altar. And it was told Solomon, saying. Be- 
hold ! Adonijah feareth king Solomon : for, io, he 
hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, 
Let king Solomon swear unto me to-day that he 
will not slay his servant with the sword. And So- 
lomon said, If he will show himself a worthy man 
there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth ; but 
if v/ickedness shall be found in .him, he shall die. 
So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down 
from the altar. And he came and bowed himself 
to king Solomon : and Solomon said unto him, Go 
to thine house." 



44 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

himself from deserved retribution by laying 
hold upon the horns of the altar.* 

Solomon was soon informed of the posi- 
tion of Adonijah, and of his willingness to 
submit if he might be pardoned. The 
king had no desire of revenge, and mag- 
nanimously replied, at once, to the messen- 
ger who had entreated mercy for the trem- 
bling traitor, " If he will show himself a 
worthy man, he shall be pardoned and 
protected ; there shall not an hair of his 

* The altar and its uses were so sacred that to 
arrest a person there, or to use any violence upon 
one who had taken refuge there, was considered as 
a sort of sacrilege. "Without any express com- 
mand on the subject, there seems to be a divine 
recognition of this popular opinion: for it was a 
provision of the Mosaic law that one class of mur- 
derers should be taken even from the altar. (Exod. 
xxi. 14.) Probably the public feeling and the 
practice on the subject w^ere modified at a later 
period ; for we find that Solomon himself ordered 
Joab to be slain even at the altar, and it was done. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 45 

head fall to the earth ; but if wickedness 
shall he found in him, he shall die.'' With 
this answer he sent for Adonijah, who 
came, and acknowledging his allegiance to 
Solomon as the rightful king, was dismissed 
in peace and went to his own house. 

And now the eventful life of David was 
about to close. His steps drew nigh to the 
grave, and he felt that his last sands were 
falling. He called Solomon into his pre- 
sence and gave him his parting counsel, 
saying: 

"I go the way of all the earth : be thou strong 
therefore, and show thyself a man ; and keep the 
charge of the Loai) thy God, to walk in his ways, 
to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and 
his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written 
in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in 
all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnesi 
thyself: that the Loud mRy continue his word 
which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy 
children take heed to their way, to walk before me 
in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, 
4 



46 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the 
throne of Israel." 

He then directed him how to treat Joab 
and Shimei, two very insidious and treach- 
erous men ; required special kindness to be 
shown to his old friend Barzillai the Gi- 
leadite,^ and his family ; and having thus 
finished his course, he fell asleep at the age 
of seventy years, and his body was buried 
in the city of Jerusalem. His tomb was 
probably distinguishable in the days of the 
apostles, though the passage in Acts ii. 29 
is by no means conclusive on that point. 

* See a sketch of the life of Barzillai, in the 
Home of the Gileadite, published by the American 
Sunday-school Union. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 47 

CHAPTER 11. 

The succession settled — Early events of Solomon's 
reign. 

About a year before David's death, his 
infirmities were such that his counsellors 
or physicians proposed to provide some 
young and agreeable person to live with 
him as his wife, and minister to his comfort 
and cheerfulness. There is every reason 
to believe that David's constitution was 
greatly impaired by his anxieties and af- 
flictions, both public and private, and it is 
not improbable that his habits of living, at 
one period, may have contributed to the 
same end. The counsel of his physicians, 
that a woman should live with him without 
being his wife, was, perhaps, in accordance 
with the customs of the times, and with the 
very low and erroneous conceptions of the 
domestic relations then entertained ; but 



48 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

it is clearly contrary to the letter and spirit 
of the gospel, and incompatible with the 
purity 5 if not with the permanency, of the 
social state. Abishag, a woman of Shu- 
nem, was selected for the king's compa- 
nion, and after his death remained in the 
family of Solomon. 

Adonijah, smarting under the defeat of 
his late attempt to usurp the throne, and 
envious of the prospects of grandeur and 
renow^n which opened before his younger 
brother, Solomon, sought to undermine his 
power by an alliance with Abishag. With 
this view he endeavoured to persuade 
Bath-sheba, the king's mother, that his pre- 
tensions to the throne were by no means 
to be despised : that though in the pro- 
vidence of God the kingdom had fallen 
into the possession of Solomon, yet the 
popular voice was really for him as the 
rightful heir. He therefore urged her to 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 49 

use what influence she had with Solomon 
to persuade him to consent to his marriage 
with Abishag. She incautiously promised 
him her good offices in the matter, and 
took an early opportunity to state the case 
to the king. 

It is usual for courtiers and petitioners, 
when allowed to approach the throne, to 
bow themselves very submissively, and 
wait at a respectful distance, till the king 
signifies his readiness to hear; and this 
deference is especially observable in the 
courts of the east; but when Bath-sheba 
entered the royal presence, Solomon met 
her AS HIS mother ! He rose up, bowed 
himself before her, and caused her to be 
most honourably seated at the right hand 
of the throne. She then said — " I desire 
one small petition of thee ; say me not 
nay." And the king said to her — "Ask 

on, my mother : I will not say thee nay." 

4=^ 



50 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

How beautiful is this example of obedience 
to the divine command: ^'Honour thy 
father and thy mother." 

Bath-sheba had no suspicion of Adoni- 
jah's secret design in seeking an alliance 
with Abishag; but the moment she dis^ 
closed her errand to the king, he saw at a 
glance that he might almost as well give 
him the throne. Being the eldest son, and 
having Abiathar, the high priest, and Joab, 
a distinguished general and wily politician, 
in his interest, if he could but ally him- 
self by marriage to the royal family, it 
would be comparatively easy to gather 
partisans, and perhaps enlist the popular 
feeling very generally in support of his 
claims. 

To show this still more clearly, however, 
it may be proper to observe further, that 
in the kingdoms of the east, the successor 
of a deceased monarch has the entire dis- 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 51 

posal of the female portion of the royal 
household. Not only does he succeed to 
the harem, but the wives and concubines 
(or secondary wives) are considered as part 
of the kingly estate ; and it was an essen- 
tial item in the ceremony of assuming the 
throne, to take possession of the seraglio. 
The right of succession, therefore, in- 
volving, as it did, the right to adopt or 
retain the family of the deceased king, if 
Adonijah could, in this way, secure the 
most trifling token of royal favour, or the 
most distant semblance of royal prerogative, 
he might use it for evil purposes: hence 
the view Avhich the king took of his real 
design. 

Adonijah had not been punished for his 

previous acts of sedition, though he had 

been banished from the court.* It was 

Solomon's determination to spare him if 

* 1 Kings i. 53. 



52 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

he should thereafter conduct himself as a 
good citizen; but this new exhibition of 
his ambitious and treasonable designs cost 
him his life. 

We have introduced this incident not 
only to show Solomon's filial respect, but 
also the wisdom and firmness by which he 
defeated the treacherous designs of his 
ambitious brother; for that his suspicions 
were well founded, no one who reads the 
history can seriously doubt. 

As another illustration of the firmness 
and inflexible integrity of the young king, 
we may mention the case of Shimei, to 
whose character allusion was just now 
made. It will be remembered that during 
the unnatural rebellion of Absalom, David 
and his friends fled from Jerusalem. As 
they were passing the village of Bahurim, 
on the way to Mahanaim, Shimei, a con- 
nection of Saul's family, came out and 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 53 

reviled the afflicted monPtrcli and his friends 
with curses and imprecations; throwing 
stones and dirt at them, and reproaching 
David with cruelty and usurpation. After 
the rebels were defeated, and David was 
returning in triumph to his capital, Shimei 
met him at the banks of the Jordan, and, 
acknowledging his offence, begged the 
king's forgiveness, and received a promise 
that his life should be spared. 

Solomon having received a caution from 
his father, forbade Shimei to leave Jerusa- 
lem, for any cause, upon pain of death. To 
this condition the pardoned rebel cheerfully 
assented ; but about three years afterwards, 
forgetting or disregarding his pledge, he 
pursued two of his servants who had ab- 
sconded, and were supposed to be at Gath, 
and upon his return was summoned before 
the king and condemned to die. However 
severe this proceeding may seem to us, we 



54 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

are to remember the former conduct of 
Shimei, and the danger which might haA^e 
attended any further extension of the royal 
clemency. It would be better for allmen, 
both good and bad, if our laws were always 
executed with like certainty and firmness. 

A short time after Solomon ascended the 
throne, he married a daughter of the king 
of Egypt. There have been different 
opinions of her character ; some supposing 
that she had forsaken idolatry and em- 
braced the Jewish faith, and others that 
she was a heathen, and that Solomon was 
guilty of a heinous sin in marrying her. 
"We incline to the opinion that she was a 
believer in the true God. The law ex- 
pressly prohibited intermarriages between 
the Israelites and the heathen nations, and 
we cannot suppose, without very clear and 
positive evidence, that so open and gross a 
violation of God's law would have been 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 55 

among the first and most notorious acts of 
Solomon's reign. And it is to be observed, 
also, that immediately after this marriage 
is mentioned, the sacred historian informs 
us that '' Solomon loved the Lord, walking 
in the statutes of David his father." In 
this view of the case, and in the absence 
of any evidence that the daughter of Pha- 
raoh was a stranger to the true religion, we 
may suppose the alliance to have been 
suitable. 

We have before mentioned that the altar 
of burnt- offering was at Gibeon, and as 
there was no temple, nor other fixed place 
of worship, Solomon went thither to pre- 
sent his sacrifices. On one occasion, while 
he was thus engaged, God appeared to him 
in a supernatural manner, and said: '^ Ask 
what I shall give thee!" It was well for 
him that his mind had been so trained in 
the knowledge of truth and the love of 



56 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

virtue, that he was prepared to answer, at 
once, the divine inquiry. What confusion 
and perplexity would such an inquiry ex- 
cite in the minds of the gay and thought- 
less votaries of fashionable folly ! 

"And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto thy 
servant David my father great mercy, according as 
he walked before thee in truth, and in righteous- 
ness, and in uprightness of heart with thee ; and 
thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that 
thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as 
it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou 
hast made thy servant king instead of David my 
father: and I am but a little child: I know not how 
to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the 
midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great 
people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for 
multitude. Give therefore thy servant an under- 
standing heart to judge thy people, that I may dis- 
cern between good and bad: for who is able to 
judge this thy so great a peopled" 

The expression '^ I am a little child^^ 
refers rather to his inexperience than to his 
age, as he was probably at this time not far 
from twenty years old. His petitions were 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 57 

according to the will of God, and were 

offered under the influences of the Holy 

Spirit. He not only received the blessings 

he sought, but many were* added which he 

did not ask. How free and abundant are 

the grace and goodness of our heavenly 

father ! 

"And God said "unto him, Because thou hast 
asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself 
long ]ife ; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor 
hast asked the life of thine enemies ; but hast asked 
for thyself understanding to discern judgment ; 
behold! I have done according to th}^ words: lo ! 
I have given thee a wise and an understanding 
heart ; so that there was none like thee before ihee, 
neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. 
And I have also given thee that which thou hast 
not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there 
shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all 
thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to 
keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy 
father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy 
days." 

Solomon returned to Jerusalem, and 
among the earliest cases in which he was 



58 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

called to exercise his extraordinary gifts, 
was one of much interest and difficulty. 

Two women presented themselves be- 
fore him with a living and a dead infant. 
Each of them earnestly claimed the living 
infant as her's, and declared that the dead 
infant belonged to the other. The story 
told by the first was, in substance, this : 
We were sleeping in the same bed — this 
other woman and I — each of us with a babe 
by her side. In the night she overlaid her 
child, or unconsciously rolled over upon it, 
and suffocated it. When she found what 
she had done, and that I was fast asleep, 

*^ Then came there two women, that were harlots, 
unto the king, and stood before him. And the one 
woman said, O my lord ! I and this woman dwell 
in one house ; and I was delivered of a child with 
her in the house. And it came to pass the third 
day after that I was delivered, that this woman was 
delivered also : and we were together ; there was no 
stranger with us in the house, save we two in the 
house. And this woman's child died in the night ; 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 59 

she took my infant from .my side and put 
it in her bosom, and laid her dead infant 
by me. And when the day dawned, and I 
was about to take my child into my arms, 
I found it was dead! But as soon as it 
was light enough to discern its features, I 
saw at once it was not mine, but the other 
woman's, and she had mine and claimed it 
as her own. 

Here the other woman interrupted her, 
and protested against the statement which 
had been made by her fellow lodger : as- 
serting with great vehemence that the 
living child was really and truly her's. 
And thus the two mothers contended. 

because she overlaid it. And she arose at mid- 
night, and took my son from beside me, while thine 
handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid 
her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in 
the morning to give my child suck, behold ! it was 
dead : but when T had considered it in the morning, 
behold! it was not my son, which I did bear. And 
the other woman said, Nay ; but the living is my 



60 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

Neither party could offer evidence in 
support of her claims, for the women were 
alone in the house at the time of the occur- 
rence, and probably no one had taken suf- 
ficient notice of the infants to say, positively, 
to which of the women either of them I > 
longed. Under these circumstances the 
king directed one of the officers in attend- 
ance to bring a sword, and then com- 
manded that the living child should be 
divided between the women! The very 
thought of such a deed filled the true 
mother with horror. " my lord !" she 

son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No ; 
but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. 
Thus they spake before the king. Then said the 
king, The one saith. This is my son that liveth,and 
thy son is the dead : and the other saith, Nay ; but 
thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. And 
the king said. Bring me a sword. And they brought 
a sword before the king. And the king said. Divide 
the living child in two, and give half to the one, 
and half to the other. Then spake jthe woman, 
whose the living child wasj unto the king, for her 




o 

i 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 63 

at once exclaimed, '^ give her the living 
child, and in no wise slay it." The other 
woman, however, was quite satisfied with 
the proposition of the king, and this re- 
moved every doubt which was the mother 
of the living child, and it was of course 
immediately restored to her. 

This proceeding of Solomon was re- 
garded by all the people as a token of 
his superior wisdom and sound judgment, 
and has probably suggested similar appeals 
to natural affection in analogous cases. 
Among these one is so strikingly parallel, 

bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my 
lord ! give her the living child, and in no wise slay 
it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor 
thine, hut divide it. Then the king answered and 
said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay 
it; she is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard 
of the judgment which the king had judged; and 
they feared the king : for they saw that the wisdom 
of God ivas in him, to do judgment." — 1 Kings iii. 
16—28. 

5* 



64 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

and so clearly shows a traditionary know- 
ledge of the sacred history among Pagan 
nations, that we cannot forbear to notice it. 
A Hindoo book gives an account of a 
woman who was going into the river to 
bathe, and left her child to play on the 
bank. While she was in the water another 
woman came along and stole the child. 
When the theft was discovered, the two 
women appeared before the deity, or idol- 
god, each claiming the child as her own. 
The deity, it is said, commanded one of 
the women to take the child by the arm, 
and the other to take it by the leg, and then 
pull violently in opposite directions ! They 
obeyed; but the moment the child screamed, 
the true mother's heart relented, and rather 
than let the child suffer she would resign 
her claim to it. The decree of the idol 
was that the child was her's ! 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 65 

CHAPTER III. 

The royal state of Solomon. 

The vast interests, both political and 
religious, which were intrusted to the 
king of Israel at the time when Solomon 
ascended the throne, give an importance to 
the minutest events of his reign which is 
rarely felt in the history of modern kings. 
In the distribution of offices, and in the 
general arrangements of his government, 
there is evidently a studied regard to the 
honour of God and the highest good of the 
kingdom. 

The people were prosperous ; and though 
we have no record of the actual population 
of the country, as we have at some other 
periods of its history, we are told that " it 
was like the sand which is by the sea in 



66 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

multitude." We are informed, also, that 
"they were eating, and drinking, and 
making merry:" but we are not to infer 
from this expression, that there was any 
general or extraordinary licentiousness ; on 
the contrary^ the history of the reign of 
Solomon, till near its close, shows the pre- 
vailing religious character of the people, 
though their habits of living might be such 
as usually attend a season of unusual out- 
ward prosperity. 

The territory under the Jewish sceptre 
at this time extended eastwardly to the 
river Euphrates, westwardly to the borders 
of the Mediterranean sea, and southwardly 
to the frontiers of Egypt. The length of 
the empire, as it has been estimated, was 
four hundred miles, and its breadth about 
three hundred miles, being, by this sup- 
position, nearly the size of England proper. 
The uncertainty of the terms used to denote 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 67 

boundaries in the ancient Avorld, renders 
all estimates of this kind exceedingly con- 
jectural. The kingdoms of Syria, Damas- 
cus, Moab, and Ammon, were tributary to 
Solomon. 

To the power and magnificence of his 
court the sacred historians bear frequent 
testimony. The kingdom was divided into 
twelve districts or provinces, and to each 
of these was assigned a governor or pur- 
veyor, who received the taxes, (payable 
chiefly in the produce of the soil,) and 
from these the king's supply was furnished ; 
each district having its appropriate month, 
and each in succession transmitting its 
quota of provisions for the royal mainte- 
nance. From the importance of their office, 
and especially from the fact that at least 
two of the governors were allied to the 
king's family, we may suppose them to 
have been eminent in dignity and rank, 



68 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

and to have maintained considerable pro- 
vincial state. Jewish historians suppose 
that there were other rulers of this class in 
the remote districts of the empire, whose tri- 
bute was collected and paid in other forms. 
The expenses of royalty are not unknown 
to us in modern times, but the vast retinue 
and provisions which are required by 
oriental courts, are without any parallel in 
European countries. In regard to the court 
of Solomon, we have a very particular in- 
ventory of its daily supply, and it cannot 
but impress upon us the idea of great 
powder and grandeur. It is not easy to de- 
termine exactly how far the measures then 
used correspond with those which are com- 
mon among us, but the lowest estimate 
would give a daily consumption of two 
hundred and fifty bushels of fine flour, five 
hundred bushels of common meal, ten stall- 
fed and twenty grass-fed beeves, one hun- 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 69 

dred sheep, and an indefinite quantity of 
poultry and wild game.* And when it is 
considered that not only the royal house- 
hold, with all its servants and dependents, 
but the officers and their families, and the 
noble visiters, (who, in eastern countries, 
are followed by immense retinues,) must be 
entertained at the royal charge, the fore- 
going estimate of provisions will not seem 
at all exaggerated. 

It may aid our conceptions of the sub- 
ject, however, to advert to the present size 
and character of some of the Eastern courts. 
The Rev. William Jowett^ a credible Chris- 
tian traveller, states, that not less than two 
thousand persons were employed in and 
about the palace of that petty prince, the 

* The attempt of the artist to represent the busy 
scene which one's daily life at such a court must 
present, must be regarded rather as an aid to fancy 
than as an imitation of fact. 



70 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

Emir of the Druses. He saw many pro- 
fessions and trades going on within the 
precincts of the palace, and among them 
were soldiers, grooms, carpenters, black- 
smiths, scribes, cooks, &c. &c., whose 
various work was needful in the establish- 
ment. 

A statement of the daily consumption of 
provisions, by the court of Cyrus, is sup- 
posed to have been inscribed on a brazen 
pillar at Persepolis. Among the items 
there are one thousand bushels of w^heat, 
of various qualities, and a like supply of 
barley-meal, four hundred sheep, three 
hundred lambs, one hundred oxen, thirty 
deer, and fifteen hundred poultry of various 
kinds. 

Still more remarkable is the account 
which Tavernier gives of the Grand Seig- 
nor's seraglio as it was in his time, two 
hundred years since. There were seven 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 71 

kitchens distinct from each other. Each 
had a superintending officer, but all were 
subject to a chief director, who had not 
less than four hundred cooks under his 
superintendence. Each of these kitchens 
was appropriated to the service of a par- 
ticular department of the household. There 
were also various offices and laboratories 
assigned to the preparation of conserves 
and delicacies, and in these four hundred 
persons were employed. One item of 
daily provision for this establishment, was 
five hundred sheep, and flour, poultry, rice, 
&c., in proportion. 

Such vast establishments are peculiar, as 
we have intimated, to oriental princes, yet 
even in European courts some approxi- 
mation is made to them. To mention but 
a single example : When the court of 
England, which is by no means remarkable 

for numbers or pageantry, removes from 
6 



72 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

London to Windsor, though but for a week, 
it occasions the making up of five hundred 
beds at Windsor palace, which are not at 
all used at other times. 

Attached to such a court as Solomon's, 
there must of course be thousands of 
beasts of burden and of draft, and for these 
provision of barley and straAV was made as 
for the royal household. Perhaps the war- 
horses and chariots* were kept chiefly at 

*In the following passage from Solomon's Song, 
allusion is supposed to be made to a palanquin, or 
some vehicle combining the uses of a chariot and 
a bed, which was of most costly construction. 

" Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness 
like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and 
frankincense, with all powders of the merchant 1 
Behold his bed ! which is Solomon's ; threescore 
valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. 
They all hold swords, being expert in war : every 
man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear 
in the night. King Solomon made himself a 
chariot of the wood of Lebanon. He made the 
pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 73 

Jerusalem, or in the vicinity, at the king's 
charge, and this would, of course, greatly 
increase the extent and expensiveness of 
the establishment. But we will not farther 

gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof 
being paved ivith love, for the daughters of Jerusa- 
lem. Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion ! and be- 
hold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his 
mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, 
and in the day of the gladness of his heart." 

No one at all familiar with oriental equipage, 
can fail to see the imposing grandeur and state 
which this description implies. It represents the 
approach of a luxurious prince, indicated by the 
rich perfume that precedes him and fills the air 
like volumes of vapour. He is attended by an 
armed guard of sixty of the choicest men of the 
land, and his carriage is constructed of most ex- 
pensive materials. The canopy is of purple, 
embroidered with curious devices, and the pillars 
or posts that sustain it are richly encased with 
silver. To meet this gorgeous array, and to behold 
the king himself reposing in state, the daughters 
of the land are summoned to come forth, and fancy 
paints advancing crowds of the youthful and beau- 
tiful hastening from all quarters to gaze upon this 
magnificent pageantry. 



74 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

enlarge on this topic. Enough has been 
said to show the vastness of Solomon's 
revenues and expenses ; and though the 
various departments of his court were 
wisely arranged and governed by officers 
in whose judgment, integrity, and faithful- 
ness he had entire confidence ; and though 
each of these officers knew and puncti- 
liously observed his time, place and duty, 
there was still great care and little enjoy- 
ment in his great possessions. "When 
goods increase," he tells us, " they are in- 
creased that eat them ; and v/hat good is 
there to the owners thereof save the be- 
holding of them with their eyes." 

The commercial enterprise which dis- 
tinguished the reign of Solomon, deserves 
some consideration. We need not say that 
the modern principles of naval architecture 
were very imperfectly known at the early 
period of which we now speak. The in- 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 75 

struments by which courses and distances 
are determined are of comparatively modern 
invention. The use of the compass has, 
of itself, rendered voyages quick, safe, and 
certain ; which, in the days of Solomon, 
would have been considered not only diffi- 
cult, but impossible. Yet under all these 
disadvantages, Solomon maintained a brisk 
trade with distant parts of the Eastern 
world, and greatly enriched his kingdom 
by the treasures which he thus accumulated. 
With the aid of the Phenicians he built 
and maintained a fleet of merchant ships ; 
and although there is much uncertainty as 
to the countries, or cities concerned in the 
trade, enough is known to assure us of its 
great extent and importance. His posses- 
sion of the whole breadth of the desert to 
the Euphrates, gave him the control of the 
immense caravans from India, which an- 
nually traversed it, while by the way of the 



76 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

Red Sea, he had access to the precious 
metals and other rare productions of the 
east-African coast. 

In connection with this allusion to the 
commerce of India, it may interest some 
of our readers to remark, that the earliest 
method of propelling vessels through the 
water was by oars ; sails w^ere invented to 
assist the oars, and at length took the place 
of them. We subjoin a representation of 
an ancient Egyptian ship, that its small 




LIFE OF SOLOMON. 77 

size and clumsy appearance may impress us 
still more with the enterprising and even 
adventurous spirit which must have been 
required to carry on, under such disadvan- 
tages, so large and valuable a trade. 

Farther evidence of the power and 
wealth of the kingdom of Solomon, results 
from the magnificence of several cities 
which were built by him in distant pro- 
vinces of his empire. Of only two of 
these have we any particular knowledge, 
but these are among the most celebrated of 
the ancient cities of the east. We refer to 
Tadmor and Baalath. The former is 
known in modern times as Palmyra, and the 
latter as Baal-bec. 

, The names Tadmor and Palmyra are 
both derived from the palm-trees which 
surrounded the city. The city stood about 
one hundred and forty miles north-east from 
Damascus, and nearly midway between the 



78 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

rivers Orontes and Euphrates. Situated in 
the midst of the Syrian desert, and on the 
direct route from Syria to Persia and India, 
it was a most desirable halting-place for 
trading companies; and hence Solomon 
might wisely select it as the site of a great 
emporium. 

In the time of Pliny, it was " a city of 
merchants and factors, trading with the 
Parthians on one hand, and the Romans on 
the other ;" and was also the great thorough- 
fare of trade between India and Rome. 
In still more modern history the place is 
not a little celebrated ; and the importance 
of its location is seen in the circumstance 
that when Zenobia, the Queen of Odenatus, 
assumed the government of Palmyra, she 
styled herself " Queen of the East," and 
asserted her sovereignty over Syria and Mes- 
opotamia. In the year 1400, this famous 
city was plundered by the army of Tamer- 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 81 

lane, and has ever since remained in ruins. 
Travellers tell us that the approach to Pal- 
myra is very imposing. The crumbling 
walls and broken columns lie strewn over 
a space of a mile or two around, and the 
evidences of its former strength, grandeur 
and importance, force themselves upon the 
beholder. Mummies and mummy clothes 
have been found among the ruins, and va- 
rious curious inscriptions in Greek, Latin, 
and Hebrew. 

The other city, Baalath, (called also 
Baal-bec, Bal-bec or the city of Baal, and 
Heliopolis or the city of the sun,) lies at 
the base of Mount Lebanon, about forty 
miles north-west from Damascus, and nearly 
the same distance from Beyroot. The im- 
portance and magnitude of this ancient 
city must be attributed partly to the facili- 
ties of trade which it ajBforded, and partly, 
perhaps, to the streams and shades, which 



82 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 



might have made it a desirable retreat for 
the royal family. The traditions of the 
inhabitants of the country, both. Jews and 
Mohammedans, confirm the general impres- 
sion that the city was founded by Solomon. 
Some authority is supposed to be given to 
this impression by the sacred historian, who 
tells us that Solomon built all which he 
desired to build in Lebanon, and throughout 
all the land of his dominions. And that it 
might be a court-residence, is inferred from 
the fact that it was attractively situated, and 
not half so far from Jerusalem as Tadmor 
was. 

The ruins of Baal-bec make a very dif- 
ferent impression from those of the rival 
city. A modern traveller says of the for- 
mer — " When we compare them with those 
of ancient cities in Greece and Egypt, we 
cannot help thinking of them as the remains 
of the boldest plan that appeal's ever to 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 83 

have been attempted in architecture." And 
another says of one of the ruins : "It 
strikes the mind with an air of greatness 
beyond any thing that he ever saw before, 
and is an eminent proof of the magnificence 
of ancient architecture." 

We have given the accompanying sketches 
of these ruins as a better explanation of their 
appearance than any description could fur- 
nish. It is not to be supposed that the 
monuments which thus mark the site of 
these ancient and renowned cities, are the 
remains of buildings erected by Solomon. 
It is by no means improbable, however, 
that the enormous stones which are seen in 
the foundation walls, were shaped by the 
same masons that " hewed wrought stones 
to build the house of God."^ In one part 
of the ruins are found three stones of white 
granite, with large strong veins of gypsum, 
* 1 Chron. xxii. 2. 



84 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

two of which are stated to be sixty feet, 
and the third sixty-two feet long, and each 
twelve feet thick. This kind of stone 
abounds in the neighbouring mountains^ 
and at one quarry is a stone described by 
modern travellers, wrought on three sides, 
nearly seventy feet long, and fourteen feet 
across each side. We do not know" how 
much exaggeration there may be in these 
statements, but we may safely say that no 
mechanical contrivances in modern use 
would be adequate to the working and 
moving of such massive blocks. The 
columns of the New Exchange at Boston, 
which are said to be the largest and heaviest 
that have ever been wrought in this country 
out of one block, are but forty feet long, 
and two and two-thirds feet in diameter.* 

* We read with some surprise of the dimensions 
of the stones employed by Solomon in the con- 
struction of his house— 1 Kings vii. 10. " And 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 85 

The machinery of modern times would 
probably be adequate to manage stones of 
one hundred tons weight. 



the foundation was of costly stones, even great 
stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight 
cubits." These measures are undoubtedly recorded 
as being remarkable. Ten cubits are in length 
about seventeen feet and a half, reckoning the 
cubit at twenty-one inches, and eight cubits are 
about fourteen feet. This has appeared extraor- 
dinary to many readers, since among us a stone 
of ten or twelve feet is of the largest size used for 
such purposes. But let us hear M. Volis^ey, and 
our surprise will no longer rest on these stones, 
but be transferred from Solomon's house to the 
ruins of Bai-bec. — [Calmet.] 

"But what is still more astonishing is the enor- 
mous stones which compose the sloping wall. To 
the west, the second layer is formed of stones 
which are from twenty-eight to thirty-five feet long, 
by about nine in height. Over this layer, at the 
north-west angle, there are three stones, which 
alone occupy a space of one hundred and seventy- 
five feet and one-half. These stones are of white 
granite, with large shining flakes like gypse. 
There is a quarry of this kind of stone under the 
whole city and in the adjacent mountains, which 
7 



86 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

We have given these particulars partly to 
show the enterprise and resources of Solo- 
mon, and partly to prepare our readers 
for the examination of other stupendous 
achievements of his reign. 

is open in several places ; and among others, on the 
right as we approach the city, there is still lying a 
stone, hewn on three sides, which is sixty-nine feet 
and two inches long, twelve feet ten inches broad, 
and thirteen feet and three inches in thickness. 
By what means could the ancients move these 
enormous masses'? This is doubtless a problem 
in mechanics curious to solve." 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 87 

CHAPTER IV. 

The wisdom and fame of Solomon. 

To govern an empire of such vast extent 
and resources, and " a great people that 
could not be counted for multitude," re- 
quired extraordinary wisdom; and with 
this, as we have seen, God endowed So- 
lomon to a degree above all other men that 
have ever lived or ever shall live.* The 
sacred biographer tells us that his " wisdom 
excelled the wisdom of all the children of 
the east country, and all the wisdom of 
Egypt. For he was wiser than all men ; 
than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and 
Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: 
and his fame was in all nations round 
about."! " The children of the east coun- 

* 1 Kings iii. 13. f 1 Kings iv. 30—31. 



88 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

try," to -which allusion is here made, may 
mean the Chaldeans, who were supposed 
to be among the most learned and sagacious 
of all men; or the reference may be to 
those ancient generations of the human 
family, whose long lives were supposed to 
favour the acquisition of great knowledge. 
The wisdom of Egypt we know to have 
been proverbial from the earliest ages, so 
that to say of Moses that he was '^ learned 
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," was 
to call him a most eminently learned man. 
Egypt was considered by other nations as 
the fountain of the arts and sciences. Such 
distinguished philosophers as Pythagoras, 
Herodotus, Plato, and others, resorted 
thither to receive lessons in Egyptian learn- 
ing ; for in those days the wonder-working 
printing press was undiscovered, and the 
modern interchange of literature between 
different and distant nations, which that in- 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 89 

vention supplies, was not enjoyed. The in- 
dividuals with whom Solomon is compared 
in the above passage, were probably noted 
for extraordinary wisdom in that, or some 
previous age ; and perhaps the best evi- 
dence we have of the superior wisdom of 
Solomon is, that while all trace of Ethan 
the Ezrahite, and of Mahol and his three 
sons, is lost, Solomon's wisdom is still the 
wonder and admiration of the world 

A few particulars are found upon the 
sacred record, which show more impres- 
sively the extent and variety of his know- 
ledge. We are told that he spake three 
thousand proverbs. Of these, the books 
of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes contain all 
that have been preserved ; and they, indeed, 
constitute an exhaustless store of instruction 
in wisdom, justice, judgment, and moral 
'economy. It might be expected that the 
son of the sweet Psalmist of Israel would 



90 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

catch some of his father's spirit, and we are 
not therefore surprised to learn that Solomon 
was the composer of one thousand and five 
sacred songs or lyrics. Of these we have 
only one, which is called (perhaps by way 
of distinction) the Song of Songs, and 
which is a sublime and mystical allegory, 
setting forth the love of Christ to the church 
under the figure of the marriage-relation. 

We are also informed that his knowledge 
of the various branches of natural history 
was extensive and accurate. The follow- 
ing are particularly specified as within the 
scope of his attainments : Botany (plants), 
Zoology (beasts). Ornithology (birds). En- 
tomology (insects or creeping things), and 
Ichthyology (fishes). We are assured that 
his knowledge of these various subjects 
was in the highest degree accurate and 
comprehensive, so that we may suppose 
that he understood and could explain, more 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 91 

perfectly than any philosopher who pre- 
ceded him, the intricate laws and processes 
which govern and distinguish the tribes, 
classes, families and habits, of the vegeta 
ble and animal creation. It has been said 
by a close student of his history, that '' he 
possessed more accurate and extensive 
knowledge, on an immense variety of sub- 
jects, than any other mere man in any age 
or nation of the world." 

Solomon was also distinguished for large- 
ness of heart. We are constrained to ad- 
mire not only the unparalleled greatness 
and comprehensiveness of his intellectual 
powers and acquisitions, but his princely 
liberality in the diffusion of knowledge and 
truth; for, as one says, ^^he had a mind 
very comprehensive of all sorts of know- 
ledge, and a heart to do a vast deal of 
good."* 

* Bishop Patrick. 



92 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

Such an exalted reputation for piety, 
commercial enterprise, political integrity, 
and sagacity, connected with his unrivalled 
attainments in natural and moral philosophy, 
poetry, the fine arts, and, indeed, the whole 
circle of human sciences, attracted to So- 
lomon's court the attention of the civilized 
world — so that there came to him repre- 
sentatives from all the nations and king- 
doms of the earth, to hear the words of 
his wisdom, and to behold the glory and 
magnificence of his throne and capital. 
From this proud eminence he could survey 
at a glance the sum and circuit of human 
glory and greatness, and from no lips could 
an estimate of their true value come with 
more emphasis and authority. 

Among the most distinguished and bril- 
liant of his visitors, was the Queen of 
Sheba, or, as she is called in the New 
Testament, "the Queen of the South." 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 93 

Her empire probably embraced portions of 
Arabia and Ethiopia, or Abyssinia. It is 
worthy of notice, that the Abyssinians of 
the present day boast that their country is 
the Sheba of Scripture, and it is certain 
that their religious customs are deeply 
tinctured with Judaism. Circumcision and 
the Levitical distinctions of clean and un- 
clean meats, bodies, &c., are observed. 
The seventh day is their Sabbath, and their 
altars are in the form of the ark of the 
covenant. Either of the countries we have 
named might be properly called "the 
uttermost parts of the earth," as they were 
probably the most distant of which Solo- 
mon, or his subjects, had any distinct 
knowledge ; and, indeed, the phrase may 
mean merely that she came from some very 
remote southerly region. Her impressions 
of Solomon's character and state might 
have been derived from common fame, or 



94 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

more directly through the commercial in- 
tercourse of their respective countries. But 
it seems to have been principally his reputed 
knowledge of the truths and precepts of 
religion, and his piety and zeal in the wor- 
ship of God, which attracted her admira- 
tion, and she came with great pomp and 
splendour to visit his court, and put his 
wisdom to the test. 

That her design and motives in this en- 
terprise were suitable and becoming, we 
may infer from the use made of the inci- 
dent by our Saviour, when he rebuked the 
Pharisees for their neglect of his teachings.* 
It was, indeed, a severe rebuke, for it set 
their indifference to Him, (the source of all 
wisdom,) in striking contrast with that cele- 
brated queen's deference to Solomon, who, 
though richly endowed, had nothing which 
he did not receive from Christ. 
* Matthew xii. 42. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 97 

The intent and circumstances of this 
singular interview between two such power- 
ful and distinguished sovereigns, are deeply 
interesting. The queen was attended by a 
large retinue of servants and courtiers, and 
brought with her treasures of immense 
value, such as gold, spices and precious 
stones. These were borne upon camels, 
together with the supplies, &c., for the 
journey. An illustration of this interview 
has been attempted by the artist, but it is 
doubtful whether all attempts to represent 
such scenes do not rather distract than aid 
imagination. 

Upon her arrival at the Jewish caj^^Hal, 
she w^as introduced to the king, and pro- 
posed to him questions with a view to test 
his claims to the exalted reputation w^hich 
he enjoyed. This was by no means an 
unusual mode of discussing subjects of the 
gravest character. And even at the pre- 



98 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

sent day, in some portions of the eastern 
world, riddles, apologues, fables, &c., are 
employed to convey reproof and instruction, 
as well as for amusement. The fable of 
Jotham,* the riddle of Samson,! and the 
" dark sayings"J of the wise, are of this 
character. The "hard questions" with 
which the Queen of the South proved the 
wisdom of the Jewish king, were perhaps 
problems in natural, or moral science, or 
perhaps religious maxims, or doctrines which 
had perplexed her own mind, and which 
the counsellors and philosophers among her 
own subjects could not explain. Solomon 
promptly solved all her problems, and 
when, in addition to this evidence of his 
wisdom, she beheld the grandeur of his 
court, his magnificent palace, the concourse 
of ambassadors, ministers, and attendants, 
that surrounded him, and above all, when 

* Judg. ix. 8—15. f Judg. xiv. 12. ^ Prov. i. 6. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 99 

she saw the fervour of his piety, she was 

amazed and confounded ! Never had she 

seen so much greatness in union with so 

much godliness. She expressed to the king 

himself her admiration, acknowledging that, 

high as her expectations had been raised by 

the fame of his greatness and glory, she 

had found them entirely surpassed; and in 

language of beautiful simplicity and piety, 

she recognises God as the source of all his 

wealth, power and wisdom. 

" It was a true report that I heard in mine own 
land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I 
believed not the words, until I came, and mine 
eyes had seen it : and, behold ! the half was not 
told me : thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the 
fame which I heard. Happy are thy men, happ)^ 
are these thy servants, which stand continually be- 
fore thee, and that hear thy wisdom. Blessed be 
the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set 
thee on the throne of Israel: because the Lord 
loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, 
to do judgment and justice." 

As a testimony of her respect and grati- 
8 



100 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

tude, the queen, upon her return, pre- 
sented to Solomon an immense sum in 
gold, together with precious stones and 
spices, in such profusion and of such 
quality, that no gift like it ever came from 
any other quarter.* 

Solomon also supplied her with whatever 
she desired ; not only with information upon 
all subjects which she had brought to his 
notice, but also with such objects of cu- 
riosity or interest as she might value, and 
which his abundant resources enabled him 
to bestow. ^' So she turned and went 
away to her own land, she and her ser- 
vants." Thus simply closes the sacred 
account of one of the most extraordinary 
interviews of which we have any record ; 
and its conciseness is as remarkable as its 
simplicity. An account of the embarkation 
and return of the Queen of England, from 
* Isa. Ix. 6. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. IQl 

a visit to France, in 1843, occupied as 
much space in a single London paper, as 
the whole five books of Moses ! 

It is proper in this connection to finish 
what we have to say of Solomon's wealth 
and revenue, and of the purposes to which 
they were applied. His trade with foreign 
countries supplied him with gold and silver, 
with chariots and horses, with ivory and 
with fine wood, for the ornamental branches 
of architecture, as well as for furniture, 
musical instruments, &c. In addition to 
this, was a heavy tribute from the mer- 
chants and dealers in spices, from the 
governors of the provinces, and from tri- 
butary princes ; and a still larger revenue 
flowed from the ordinary taxes, which were 
paid in silver and gold, in rich stuflfs for 
clothing and female ornament, in armour, 
spices, horses, and mules. There is no 
specific value attached to these several 



102 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

sources of wealth, except the gold, and it 
is stated that this amounted to six hundred 
and sixty-six talents in a year, not in- 
cluding the tribute of foreign princes, nor 
that which traders and merchants brought. 
Whether we are to infer that this was the 
whole amount of gold annually imported 
into Judea, or whether it was only the 
amount added to the royal treasury, is not 
clear. To attempt to put a value upon it, 
by reducing it to some modern currency, is 
quite out of the question ; yet learned men 
have spent much time and labour in the 
effort, and some of them gravely tell us 
that the value of this single item of Solo- 
mon's revenue, was neither more nor less 
than twenty-five millions of dollars ! 

The uses to which the precious metals 
were put, show clearly how great was their 
abundance. We are told that the king had 
two hundred targets, and three hundred 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 103 

shields, (both important pieces of de- 
fensive armour,) all of beaten or wrought 
gold. These have been valued by learned 
men, the targets at seven hundred and the 
shields at thirty-five hundred dollars each. 
The drinking vessels used in the palace 
were of gold, — silver being considered too 
common and cheap a material to use for 
such a purpose. But the most imposing 
and expensive structure at the court was 
the throne, which, though of spacious di- 
mensions, was built of solid ivory, and 
overlaid with the purest gold. Its shape is 
minutely described, and answers very well 
to the figure of an eastern throne* found at 

* Tavern ier, in his Indian travels, gives a very 
striking description of the throne of the Great 
Mogul. Indeed, he had seven thrones ; some set 
all over with diamonds ; others, with rubies, emer- 
alds and pearls. But the largest throne is erected 
in the hall of the first court of the palace ; it is six 
feet long, and four broad. " I counted," says he, 
8^ 



104 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

Thebes, the general idea of which may be 
inferred from the accompanying engraving. 
The worked figures under the seat are 

"about a hundred and eight pale rubies about it, 
the least whereof weighed a hundred carats ; but 
there are some that weigh two hundred. I counted 
above one hundred and forty emeralds, that weighed, 
some threescore, some thirty carats. The tinder- 
part of the canopy is entirely embroidered with 
pearls and diamonds, with a fringe of pearls round 
the edge. Upon the top of the canopy, which is 
made like an arch with four panes, stands a pea- 
cock, with his tail spread, consisting entirely of 
sapphires, and other proper coloured stones; the 
body is of beaten gold, enchased with numerous 
jewels ; and a great ruby adorns his breast, to 
which hangs a pearl that weighs fifty carats. On 
each side of the peacock stand two nosegays as 
high as the bird, consisting of various sorts of 
flowers, all of beaten gold enamelled. When the 
king seats himself upon the throne, there is a 
transparent jewel, with a diamond appendant, of 
eighty or ninety carats weight, encompassed with 
rubies and emeralds, so suspended that it was 
always in his eye. The twelve pillars also which 
uphold the canopy, are set round with rows of 
diamonds of an excellent water, that weigh from 




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ROYAL TER0:NE, 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 109 

supposed to represent captives. We must 
employ another figure to illustrate the six 
steps which we are told formed the ascent 
to the throne, and also the supposed posi- 
tion of the sculptured images which are 
represented as standing on each side. 

We need not add that Solomon's princely 
income enabled him to command every 
gratification of fancy , taste and appetite ; 
and he was thus led to try every source of 
pleasure which is open to the children of 
men. His vineyards yielded the most de- 
licious wines; his gardens and orchards 
bore all kinds of vegetables and fruits ; he 

six to ten carats a piece. At the distance of four 
feet on each side of the throne, are placed two 
■umbreUas, the handles of which are about eight 
feet high, covered with diamonds; the umbrellas 
themselves being of crimson velvet, embroidered 
and fringed with pearls. This is the famous throne 
which Timour began, and Shah Johan finished ; 
and is really reported to have cost 500,000 livres 
of our money" — equal to ten millions of dollars. 



110 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

erected many baths, fountains, and reser- 
voirs, spacious and magnificent ; every want 
was anticipated by a host of servants, who 
waited upon him continually ; his treasures 
in silver and gold, as well as in oxen, 
horses, asses, camels, &c., seemed inex- 
haustible ; the most skilful musicians were 
in constant attendance at his court; and 
whatever his eyes desired, or his imagina- 
tion conceived, to minister to his enjoy- 
ment, he had in the most perfect form and 
degree. And with all this he retained his 
wisdom, and extracted from his vast pos- 
sessions whatever good they were capable 
of yielding. It would be difficult for any 
language to convey a more exalted idea of 
the magnificence of Solomon's royal state, 
or of the greatness of his wisdom and 
fame, than that which our Saviour has 
used. In one instance, when he would 
describe, in the most expressive manner, 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. HI 

the grace and beauty of the hly, he speaks 
of it as exceeding any thing that even So- 
lomon, in all his pride and state, could 
boast ; and in another, when he would im- 
press his hearers with a sense of his own 
dignity and power, it is by speaking of 
himself as greater than Solomon. 

Thus we have described, with sufficient 
particularity, the splendour of Solomon's 
court and capiffel. We have seen that he 
surpassed all the kings of the earth in 
riches^ as w^ell as wisdom ; and we do not 
wonder that they sought his presence to 
behold with their own eyes the former, and 
to receive instruction from the latter. 

* An author of considerable celebrity estimates 
his daily income at nearly two millions of dollars, 
or between seven and eight hundred millions an- 
nually. 



112 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 



CHAPTER V. 

The Palace. 



In a history so ancient and so general as 
that of the kings of Judah and Israel, we 
do not expect to find the same exactness, 
method and arrangement, which modern 
historians must observe, to ofetain credit for 
their productions ; and yet, in profane his- 
tories, of comparatively recent date, very 
important errors and inconsistencies are 
found, which do not, however, invalidate 
at all their general authority. 

In the history of Solomon's reign, as 
given in the Bible, we have found already 
an unusually particular account of the mag- 
nificence of his court and the glory of his 
kingdom; but when we come to read a 
description of his palace, there seems to be 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 113 

something quite imperfect and confused, 
chiefly, perhaps, because of our ignorance 
of the force of terms by which places and 
objects are described. We read, for in- 
stance, of the '^ king's house" — " the house 
for his kingdom" — ^^the king's palace"— 
" the house of the forest of Lebanon" — 
" a house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he 
(Solomon) had taken to wife" — and of 
" Solomon's own house" — and "the house 
where he dwelt," of which, we are told, 
that thirteen years were employed in build- 
ing it. 

It has been suggested as not improba- 
ble that the various edifices, to which these 
terms refer, were one block or pile, so ar 
ranged as to accommodate the several divi 
sions of the royal household. The palace 
of an eastern king, in more modern times, 
may aid our conception of Solomon's. We 

may suppose there w^as a large oblong 
9 



114 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

square, perhaps, in the vicinity of the tem- 
ple, completely enclosed by high walls, as 
in the annexed figure. 

The most ample apartments or cloisters, 
for the officers and attendants of the court, 
as well as for ambassadors and distinguished 
visitors, are provided upon the inner wall 
a a a — entered by arched passages, and 
overlooking the whole enclosure. The 
chief buildings occupy the centre of the 
area A A A A, and appear in three sections 
or divisions. The middle section, B B B, 
is a spacious portico, or hall, forty-five feet 
high, and one hundred and fifty feet in 
length, by seventy-five in breadth. . The 
ceiling of this magnificent hall is of cedar, 
supported by four courses oi cedar columns, 
fifteen in a range. Cedar timber was 
brought chiefly from Lebanon. The abund- 
ant use of it in the construction of this block, 
or, perhaps, the resemblance of the numer- 




115 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 117 

ous columns to a forest of cedars, may have 
distinguished this section of the pile as 
"the house of the forest of Lebanon." We 
may suppose this hall to have been appro- 
priated to public offices connected with the 
department of state, or with the adminis- 
tration of justice. Among others, the 
" grand porch of judgment" is particularly 
mentioned, covered entirely with cedar, 
and containing, perhaps, the ivory throne 
before described. Traces of such a porch, 
or judgment-hall, have been found among 
the ruins of palaces in old countries of the 
east. In this section might be the vaults 
for the royal treasures, which must have 
been very spacious to have held such 
masses of the precious metals, used in 
trade, building, and manufactures, and also 
the five hundred shields and targets which 
we are told were deposited there. 

On each side of this middle section is 
9^ 



118 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

an open square, C C, appropriated, per- 
haps, to fruits and flowers, and filled with 
arbours, fountains, and statuary, or what- 
ever a refined taste might suggest or luxury 
crave. The gardens on the right would 
separate the king's palace, D D, from the 
public offices, and those on the left would 
serve the same purpose for the palace of the 
queen, E E. Thus we are presented with a 
block or range of palaces, connected proba- 
bly by various passages, but still each com- 
plete in itself, furnished with its appropriate 
accommodations and provisions, and with 
a proper complement of officers, servants, 
attendants, &c., in the house where the 
king dwelt, or what was properly the 
palace — the house of the forest of Lebanon, 
or the grand entrance to the royal apart- 
ments and the house for Pharaoh's daugh- 
ter, or for the queen and princesses and 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 119 

other females connected with the court. 
This view of the matter, which a very 
sober imagination may suggest, serves, at 
least, to show how easily any seeming con- 
fusion or difficulty, in this most ancient his- 
tory, might be explained. 

Whatever may have been the form or 
arrangement of this building, the materials 
were massive and beautiful beyond pre- 
cedent. The foundations were of " costly 
stones," fifteen feet long, by twelve feet in 
breadth and thickness! The walls were 
built eMirely of hewn stone, " even from 
the foundation to the coping." These 
stones are described to have been, accord- 
ing to the measure, " hewed stones, sawed 
with saws within and without." A Jewish 
historian tells us, that " the walls of the 
palace were w^ainscoted with sawn stones, 
or slabs of great value, such as are dug 



120 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

out of the earth for the ornaments of tern 
pies, or to make fine prospects in royal 
palaces, and so beautiful and curious are 
they, as to make the mines, whence they 
are dug, famous."* We are told that 
stones are now found in the ruins of an- 
cient cities, corresponding exactly in size 
to those of Solomon's palace. 

After surveying the vast and imposing 
structure which was raised and occupied 
by the wealthiest and wisest king that ever 
lived, we may naturally inquire how such 
a king, chosen and beloved of God, could 
spend so much time, labour, and expense, 
upon such an object? Perhaps, if no bet- 
ter reason could be assigned, it might be to 
teach all other kings and wealthy poten- 
tates the vanity of such an ambition. 

JosephUvS, Book viii. Ch. 5. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 



121 



The height of earthly grandeur and glory 
to which Solomon attained has never been, 
and never will be, exceeded or even 
equalled ; yet of that, as of all other kin- 
dred objects to which he gave himself, he 
says not only that they are vanity, but that 
they are " vanity of vanities." 




122 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Temple. 

It is time we should turn our attention to 
that unrivalled structure which is connected 
so intimately with Solomon's name and 
fame;> as well as with the religious and 
civil history of the Jewish kingdom — The 
Temple. 

We have alluded already to the partial 
preparation made by David for this great 
enterprise, but it will be necessary to return 
for a moment to that portion of the history. 
David resided at Jerusalem, in a palace 
which was built for him by Hiram, King of 
Tyre. After many protracted and expen- 
sive wars, the prosperity of the kingdom 
of Israel was at length established, and as 
the king reviewed the way in which God 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 123 

had led him, and meditated on the truth 
and faithfulness of the divine promises, he 
naturally thought of the times and places 
and modes of worshipping and magnifying 
the King of kings and Lord of lords. It 
was obvious to his mind that some more 
appropriate place should be at once pro- 
vided for the sacred furniture of the taber- 
nacle. And though he was far from attri- 
buting to forms and ceremonies, and ex- 
ternal pomp or show, any undue share in 
the acceptableness of divine worship, or in 
the benefits conferred by it, he felt that the 
claims of " decency and order" might be 
observed, and that without any ^'vain- 
glorious" display. We must remember, 
also, that the ritual of worship prescribed 
for the Jews, was, in its whole form and 
structure, typical and necessarily abounded 
with external duties and ceremonies. The 
obligation to observe these, was of civil or 



124 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

political as well as religious force, anc 
hence the propriety of seeking to connect 
with their observance eyery thing that was 
grand and imposing in external order. 
When our Saviour came and revealed the 
better covenant, or the clearer dispensation 
of grace and mercy, he taught, at the very 
outset of his ministry, that the acceptable 
worship of God was confined to no time, 
or place, or form;* that all who worship 
Him in spirit and in truth are accepted of 
Him ; so that we must look upon the tem- 
ple and its gorgeous array as we look at the 

*The idea here suggested has been expressed 
by a modern poet : 

Jesus, where'er thy people meet, 
There they behold thy mercy-seat; 
Where'er they seek thee thou art found. 
And every place is hallowed ground: 
For thou, within no walls confined, 
Inhabitest the humble mind ; 
Such ever bring thee where they comCy 
And going take thee to their home. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 12E 

vestments and pageantry, the altars and 
sacrifices of the Jewish ritual, as shadows 
of good things then to come, and not to be 
desired or imitated under the new and bet- 
ter dispensation of the gospel. 

David made known his feelings to the 
prophet Nathan, by whom he afterwards 
received a message from God, which has 
been already given at length. In this mes- 
sage were embraced several interesting pre- 
dictions, which relate, in some respects, to 
the earthly kingdom of Israel, and the 
continuance of David's posterity upon the 
throne, while they have a more enlarged 
and comprehensive reference to the king- 
dom and dominion of Him, who, by the 
mystery of the incarnation, was the root as 
well as the offspring of David, and of the 
increase of whose government there shall 
be no end. Among these predictions one 
was, that after David's death his son should 
10 



126 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

build the house of the Lord, and the very 
site on which it should stand was de- 
signated, in a most extraordinary manner, 
as we have already seen. 

The moveable tabernacle and its furni- 
ture supplied, to some extent, the model 
of the permanent and magnificent structure 
which was to take its place ; and as the 
pattern or plan of the former was divinely 
revealed to Moses during his forty days' 
sojourn in the mount, so the plan or pat- 
tern of the temple was made known to 
David in the like supernatural manner. 
^^ All this," he says, " the Lord made me 
understand in writing by his hand." 

There is nothing at all incredible in the 
supposition that there was given to David, 
in a visible, tangible form, a delineation or 
outline of the dimensions and apartments 
of the sacred edifice. That the tables of 
stone, which were given to Moses, were 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 127 

actually written upon, in a miraculous man- 
ner, it would be impious to doubt, and 
there is no reason, that we see, why a 
figurative construction should be put upon 
the phrase '' in writing by his hand," which 
will not apply with equal force to the 
tables of stone. 

Not only was the plan of the building 
made known by divine authority, but its 
furniture and the form and number of 
the vessels used in its various services, 
were minutely described; hence David 
was aware of the kind and quantity of 
materials that would be required ; and 
that he might save his son from a portion 
of the care and burden that would be 
thrown upon him at the commencement of 
his reign, he laid aside, from the public 
revenue and from his own private estate, an 
immense mass of gold and silver, iron, stone, 
and timber, the value of which it is quite 



128 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

impracticable to determine. In addition to 
what we have said on the subject in another 
connection, it may be proper to remark, that 
there is a way of estimating this accumula- 
tion of materials, and that too without any 
violence to the terms employed by the 
sacred writers, which would make its value 
about five thousand millions of dollars ! an 
amount which would have sufficed, as some 
one has said, to build the temple of solid 
silver.* If David had laid aside, annually, 
during the forty years of his reign, a larger 
sum than the whole revenue of the British 
empire, the amount would have fallen far 
short of the above sum ; hence we are 
forced to the conclusion that the terms 
both of value and weight are used by dif- 
ferent authors, and concerning different 
subjects, with widely different meanings; 
so that the sacred text may be so interpreted 
* Prideaux. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 129 

as to remove every seeming inconsistency 
or contradiction. 

Some have doubted whether the mate- 
rials collected by David were actually used 
in the construction of the temple or its 
furniture, inasmuch as the history informs 
us that after the building was completed, 
the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, 
which David had dedicated, were deposited 
among the treasures of the house. But we 
must remember that the spoils which David 
had taken in war, and which he conse- 
crated, at once, to the Lord,* were entirely 
separate from the wrought stones which he 
set masons to hew, the iron for the doors, 
and gates, and joints, the brass, and the 
cedar trees,! as well as from the gold, iron, 
and precious stones, which were contributed 
by the officers and rulers, and all which 



' 2 Sam. viii. 1—15. f 1 Chron. xxii. 3, 4. 

10* 



130 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

David expressly and solemnly appropriated 
to the building of the house.* 

We may conclude then, on the whole, 
that David left at Solomon's disposal an 
immense treasure, to be used at his dis- 
cretion in the building of the temple ; and 
that, together with the plan, he furnished 
him with particular directions respecting 
the furniture, instruments, and vessels, and 
the various orders and duties of men to be 
employed in the sacred service. 

It is not difficult to conceive that a man 
of David's character and temperament, 
after spending so much time, thought, and 
treasure, upon tlie mere preliminary arrange- 
ments, should sometimes pass in imagina- 
tion over intervening years, and fancy that 
the great work was already accomplished — 
that the noble structure stood forth complete 
in unrivalled magnificence and grandeur, 

* 1 Chron. xxix. 6—16. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 13] 

filled with the manifest tokens of the divine 
presence — its courts and cloisters resound- 
ing with the voice of praise and thanks- 
giving, rising up like the voice of many 
waters from a crowd of devout worshippers. 
In this respect his history bears a singular 
resemblance to that of Moses, who was 
made acquainted with the divine counsels, 
touching the safety and glory of God's peo- 
ple in the promised land, and was required 
to encourage and animate them by glowing 
descriptions of the beauty and fertility of 
their expected inheritance,* while he w^as 
forewarned that he should never set his 

* *' For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a 
good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains, 
and depths that spring out of valleys and hills ; 
aland of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, 
and pomegranates; a land of oil-oiive, and honey; 
a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarce- 
ness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land 
whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou 
mayest dig brass." 



132 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

foot upon it. So God revealed to David 
the grandeur and glory of the temple which 
should be erected for the service of the 
Lord, but did not permit him to see a stone 
of it laid. Even the site which had been 
purchased and consecrated to this purpose, 
was not prepared until after his decease, 
and the preparation involved no incon- 
siderable share of labour and expense. 
The highest summits were selected for 
threshing-floors, that they might be open on 
every side to the wind; and Araunah's 
place is represented by Jewish historians to 
have been a rocky, precipitous eminence, 
irregular in shape, and of uneven surface, 
and overlooking a deep ravine on three 
sides. Late travellers say, that Mount 
Moriah was, apparently, at first an elevated 
mound of rock.* To secure an area of 
suitable dimensions for the temple, it was 
* Dr. Robinson, and others. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 



133 



necessary to build an immense wall from 
the bottom of the surrounding valley, rising 
on the east and south to the stupendous 
elevation of 730 feet. The space within 
the walls was jlilled up with earth, and the 
surface being brought to a level, an eligible 
site was provided for the temple and its 
various courts. 




134 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

CHAPTER VII. 

The materials of the Temple. 

It is not unusual, in modern days, for 
ambitious and powerful kings to undertake 
some great work which shall distinguish 
the period of their reign, and transmit to 
succeeding ages the evidence of their taste, 
power, and wealth. Sometimes these enter- 
prises have contributed to the improvement 
and happiness of the nations at whose ex- 
pense they have been conducted ; but more 
commonly they have been undertaken to 
gratify some wicked lust, and have been 
sustained by the most unjust and oppressive 
taxation. 

Solomon was raised up and specially 
qualified for the work to which he was 
called. The erection of the temple was to 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 135 

be the great event of his reign, and to 
enable him to build it, God, in his provi- 
dence, endowed him with supernatural wis- 
dom, instructed him minutely in every de- 
partment of the work, gave him the control 
of the treasures and resources of the 
country, and opened to him the most fa- 
vourable treaties and alliances with foreign 
nations, on whom he was dependent for a 
portion of his supplies. 

Among these foreign allies, the most 
valuable to Solomon was his father's old 
friend Hiram, king of Tyre. The letter in 
which the former disclosed to the latter his 
purposes and wishes, is remarkable for 
simplicity and openness.* Solomon re- 
minds him of the liberality he had shown 
to David in supplying timber, &c., for his 

* "And Solomon sent to Huram [or Hiram] the 
king of Tyre, saying, As thou didst deal with David 
my father, and didst send him cedars to build him an 



136 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

palace, and after describing in eloquent 
and devout language the design and uses 
of the contemplated edifice, he asks Hirain 
to send him a suitable person to take charge 
of certain dilSicult or complicated branches 
of the work — such as turning, moulding, 
carving, embroidery, &c. ; for though he 
had artificers among his own subjects, who 

house to dwell therein, even so deal with me. Behold! 
I build an house to the name of the Lord my God, 
to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet 
incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for 
the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the 
sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn 
feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance 
for ever to Israel. And the house which I build is 
great : for great is our God above all gods. But 
who is able to build him an house, seeing the hea- 
ven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? 
Who am I then, that I should build him an house, 
save only to burn sacrifice before him ] Send me 
now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and 
in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, 
and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to gravq 
with the cunning men that are with me in Judah 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 137 

were skilful in these departments, he knew 
no one so decidedly superior that he would 
be willing to intrust the whole direction of 
it to him. He also asked for a supply of 
timber, from the forest of Lebanon, and 
specified the various kinds which were 
needed. He farther proposed to send a 
body of men from Judea, to aid in felling 
and preparing the timber, and to furnish a 
vast quantity of provisions, either for the 
maintenance of the labourers or as a com- 
pensation for the services rendered. In the 

and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did pro- 
vide. Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and 
algum trees, out of Lebanon : for I know that thy 
servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon ; and, 
behold, my servants shall be with thy servants, even 
to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house 
which I am about to build shall be wonderful great. 
And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers 
that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of 
beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of 
barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and 
twenty thousand baths of oil." — 2 Chron. ii. 3 — 10. 
11 



138 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

latter case, the contract would have simply 
allowed Solomon to cut and carry away all 
the timber he wanted within Hiram's domi- 
nions, provided he would pay the expenses 
of labour and transportation. It should be 
remembered, however, that this timber was 
among the most valuable exports of Tyre, 
and hence the liberality of Hiram in giving 
Solomon free access to it was, in the highest 
degree, honourable to him. 

The answer to Solomon's application 
could not be exceeded in courtesy, elo- 
quence, or dignity, by the most skilful 
modern diplomatist."* With beautiful sim- 
plicit}' he recognises the God of Israel as 
the God of providence and grace, and in- 



* "Huram said, moreover, Blessed be the Lord 
God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath 
given to David the king a wise son, endued with 
prudence and understanding, that might build an 
house for the Lord, and an house for his kingdom. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 139 

forms him that the man he asks for to over- 
see the difficult branches of his contemplated 
work is already on his way to Jerusalem, 
describingj at the same time, who and what 
he is. By a happy reference to the skill 
which the king could command among his 
own subjects, he very judiciously guards 
against any jealousy which might arise to- 
wards a foreigner who should be intrusted 

And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with 
understanding, of Hnram my father's, the son of 
a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father 
was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in 
silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in 
purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson ; 
also to grave any manner of graving, and to find 
out every device which shall be put to him, with 
thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of 
my lord David thy father. Now therefore the 
wheat, and the barley, the oil, and the wine, which 
my lord hath spoken of, let him send imto his ser- 
vants : and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as 
much as thou shalt need : and we will bring it to 
thee in floats by sea to Joppa ; and thou shalt carry 
it up to Jerusalem." — 2 Chron. ii. 12 — 16. 



140 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

with the supervision of native artists: 
" The man I send is skilful to find out any 
device which shall be put to him with thy 
cunning men and the cunning men of my 
lord David thy father."* 

Some confusion has arisen from the cir- 
cumstance that the name of the Tyrian 
king, and of the artificer despatched by 
him to Jerusalem, are the same, viz. : Hi- 
ram, or Huram. There is nothing remark- 
able in this circumstance, when we call to 
mind that the king's name was not titular ; 
that is, it was not the regal name, as 
Pharaoh was the regal name for the mon- 
archs of Egypt. No second names (or 
surnames, as we call them) were employed 
at that time for the distinction of persons ; 
hence there might have been hundreds of 

* Copies of this correspondence are said to have 
been preserved both in the Jewish and Tyrian re- 
cords. — Josephus, lib. viii. ch. ii. § 8. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 141 

Solomons, Josiahs, or Ahabs, in the land, 
while one of that name occupied the 
throne. 

The king of Tyre not only assented to 
the wishes of Solomon, but he suggested a 
mode of transportation which would mate- 
rially reduce the expense and facilitate the 
labour. This was to collect the timber into 
rafts and float it. Some have supposed 
that there were one or more streams flowing 
from the foot of Mount Lebanon, and 
emptying into the Mediterranean, and hence 
they have even suggested that the river 
known to ancient geographers as the 
Leontes, and in more modern times as 
el- Litany, might have served for this pur- 
pose, and in that case the land-carriage 
would be, from some point on the coast, 
forty or fifty miles to Jerusalem. These 
conjectures are, however, quite uncertain, 

and the simple text is as particular as the 
IP 



142 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

language of a modem treaty or contract, 
touching a similar subject, would probably 
be viz : ' King Hiram will see that the timber 
is transported to the coast, and thence taken 
in rafts and delivered at any port on the 
Mediterranean shore that King Solomon 
shall designate.' Such modes of conveying 
timber are still prevalent in the east. 

The Sidonians, mentioned by Solomon 
as particularly skilful in hewing timber, 
enjoyed a high reputation for ingenuity 
even in the time of Homer, and as both 
Tyre and Sidon were within Hiram's do- 
minions, the best artificers of both cities 
were alike at his disposal. 

It is not certain from what region Solo- 
mon obtained his supply of stone. We 
have already mentioned the building of 
Baal-bec, in Coele-Syria, between the Le- 
banon ranges, as one of the vast enterprises 
attributed to Solomon, and we have also 




o 

i 

O 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 145 

stated the prodigious dimensions of stones 
which have been found in the ruins of that 
city and of Tadmor. It is not probable 
that blocks of such enormous size were 
transported any considerable distance ; in- 
deed, we have no idea of the machinery by 
which the architects of that age were able 
to work such prodigious masses of solid 
stone into their temples and tombs. The 
idea attempted to be given in pictorial re- 
presentations, (one of which is subjoined,) 
resembles too nearly the results of modern 
science to throw much light on the subject. 
Limestone is the prevailing constituent of 
the mountains of Syria, as well as of Asia 
Minor. The species of stone which is 
found in the great central ridges of Syria, 
is, for the most part, a hard limestone, dis- 
posed in strata^ variously inclined, some 
thirty or forty yards in thickness, and, like 
*all limestone strata^ affording a great num- 



146 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

ber of caverns, some of which are capa- 
cious enough to contain fifteen hundred 
men, and one near Damascus can afford 
shelter to four thousand ! The hills about 
Jerusalem are of a hard, light-coloured lime- 
stone, like that of Lebanon, while the rock 
which pervades the valley of the Jordan 
and its lakes, is of a texture much less 
compact, and becomes grayish and loose as 
one approaches the Dead Sea. Though the 
formation of the caves, to which we have 
alluded, is more generally ascribed to the 
action of water, or to some violent convul- 
sion of the earth, it is by no means im- 
probable that some of them were formed by 
the excavation of stone for building pur- 
poses. This supposition is not necessary, 
however, to account for the abundant sup- 
ply of the material, for we know that ex- 
tensive and valuable quarries might have 
been worked, and, perhaps, exhausted in 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 147 

Solomon's days, and yet they may long 
since have been filled up and built over, so 
that not a trace of them appears. 

Before we entirely dismiss this topic, it 
may not be amiss to^bserve, that the mine- 
ral resources of Solomon's kingdom were, 
doubtless, much more extensive in ancient 
times than the same district appears to be 
now. From the description which Moses 
gives of a portion of it,* it would be sup- 
posed that iron, and brass, (or copper,) 
were especially abundant. Iron is found 
in the Lebanon mountains. A few traces 
of silver have also been discovered, but 
copper, tin, lead, and gold, are not now 
found. 

The art of casting or founding was, 
doubtless, known for a long time prior to 
any authentic historical record, except the 
Bible ; hence, we are not surprised at the 

* Deut. viii. 9. 



148 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

magnitude of the castings required for some 
parts of the temple, especially the two pil- 
lars, which were twenty-seven feet in length, 
and eighteen feet in circumference. " We 
should find it difficult even now," says a 
learned English comnientator, '^ to procure 
a founder who could cast such massive pil- 
lars, (about thirty feet high and twenty 
round,) whether solid or hollow." " Per- 
haps the greatest triumph of modern art, in 
this respect," says another, " is the column 
of the Place Vendomej (Paris,) cast in 1810, 
by order of Napoleon. It is in imitation 
of the pillar of Trajan. It is one hundred 
and thirty feet high and twelve feet in 
diameter. The pedestal and shafts are 
built of stone, covered with cast plates of 
bronze, representing the various victories 
of the French arm}'. These castings are 
made of twelve hundred pieces of cannon, 
taken from the Russian and Austrian armies, 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 



149 



and weighing three hundred and sixty 
thousand pounds. 

In connection with the arts and materials 
which were employed in the construction 
of the temple and its furniture, we find 
olive wood is mentioned. It was used 
chiefly in " the tasteful and decorative parts, 
and seems to be still regarded as a fancy 
wood in the east ; for a modern traveller 
informs us, that the winter apartments of 
the palace of the Rajah, at Adrianople, 
were wainscotted with mother of pearl, 
variegated ivory, and olive wood,^'^ 




150 I-IFE OF SOLOMON. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Plan and Structure of the Temple. 

A VOLUME of theories and conjectures 
might be collected respecting the size, 
architecture, materials, &c., of Solomon's 
temple, and the world would be no wiser 
nor better for its publication. There are, 
however, many useful and instructive asso- 
ciations with the temple, as well as with the 
tabernacle, (Figure 1,) which it supplanted, 
and these we shall do well to cherish. 

As a moveable place of worship, de- 
signed for a pastoral people, the tabernacle, 
though frail and temporary, was a most 
magnificent structure. The space it occu- 
pied was an oblong of one hundred and 
fifty feet by seventy- five. Twenty bronze 
pillars, each nearly eight feet high, were 



LIFE OF SOLOMON ♦ 151 

arranged on the sides, and ten at each end. 
These corresponded in shape and use with 
the pins or stakes which are employed to 
secure an ordinary tent. The capitals of 
these little columns were silver, and the 
bases gold. A large veil of fine linen was 
stretched around upon these pillars and en- 
closed the ground. The front entrance was 
distinguished by a curtain ten yards long 
and three wide, beautifully embroidered 
wdth images of the cherubim. 

Within the area, thus enclosed, stood 
the sacred tent, (Figure 2.) It was forty- 
five feet in length and thirty feet in breadth. 
Each side was constructed of twenty planks, 
covered within and without by plates of 
gold, and over the vfhole v/ere thrown ten 
pieces of narrow tapestry. Securely fas- 
tened to the wood-work, and over these, 
were stretched other coverings of various 

materials. 

12 



152 <t LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

The position and fashion of every joint 
and seam of this beautiful structure, with 
all its folds and fastenings and overhanging 
curtains, are described with curious mi- 
nuteness in the sacred history.^ And the 
immense expense of it may be inferred from 
the fact that the gold and silver employed 
in its construction have been estimated at 
nearly one million of dollars. 

This tabernacle, in its general form., was 
(as before intimated) reproduced six hun- 
dred years afterwards, in the TEMPLE 
OF SOLOMON, though wdth many costly 
and magnificent accessions and ornaments, 
of which no moveable structure could ad- 
mit. The foundation z"^ the temple was 
laid in the year of the world 2992, and it 
was finished in about seven and a half 
years, f Seven years may seem a long 

* Exodus xxvi. 

litis a striking evidence of the minute correct- 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 153 

period for the construction of such an 
edifice, and especially when v/e consider a 
remarkable fact which surprisingly illustrates 
the skill of the architects and mechanics of 
that age and country, viz., that every part of 
the work was brought upon the ground 
completely finished and fitted, so that there 
was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool 
of iron, heard in the house w^hile the build- 
ing was in progress. 

"Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric grew." 
The perfect accuracy with which the plan 
was delineated, and the minute description, 
measurement, and position, of every stone 
and timber to be used in the building, 
greatly aided the architect in thus fitting 
all parts of the work, piece by piece, so 

ness of the sacred narrative, that in one place 
where ^^ castings of brass^^ are mentioned, the very 
place and soil in which the work was done is defi- ' 
nitely stated: — "In the cla3^-ground between Suc- 
coth and Zeredathah." — 2 Chron. iv. 17. 



154 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

that when brought together ^^ the agree- 
ment of one part with another seemed 
rather to have been natural than to have 
arisen from the force of tools upon them." 

We should have adverted before to the 
number of workmen employed upon this 
stupendous edifice. Thirty thousand Is- 
raelites were drafted to be employed at 
Lebanon, by three sections of ten thousand 
each, each section being employed two 
months at a time, with a vacation of four 
months. There w^ere also seventy thousand 
common labourers, and eighty thousand 
hewers of stone and timber, who were not 
Israelites, but strangers, or foreigners, as 
we should say ; and the overseers of the 
various branches of the work were between 
three and four thousand ! 

With such a force, and with such facili- 
ties for accomplishing the enterprise, seven 
years and more might seem, as we have 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 155 

said, a long period. It is to be remem- 
bered, however, that the ornamental work 
was, in the highest degree, profuse and of 
the most difficult and expensive kind, and 
that many intervals probably occurred 
during which the work was entirely sus- 
pended. It is not improbable, too, that the 
above period includes the preparation of 
the ground and the collection of the mate- 
rials. It was in the spring of the fourth 
year of the reign of Solomon that the erec- 
tion was commenced. This was about five 
hundred years after the Jews were emanci- 
pated from Egypt, nearly fifteen hundred 
years after the flood, and about one thou- 
sand years before the coming of Christ. 

We presume that few of our readers 
have been able to form any distinct idea of 
the size, form, and appearance, of Solo- 
mon's temple. The representations of it 

by various authors are so different, and the 
12* 



156 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

terms employed by the sacred writers to 
describe its plan, and the arrangement and 
dimensions of the various parts are so un- 
like those which are employed in modern 
days, that it is almost, if not quite, impos- 
sible to form any satisfactory notion of it. 
Without attempting to connect or reconcile 
the various opinions on the subject, we 
shall adopt, in substance, the general de- 
scription of a modern writer, choosing it 
chiefly because it is simple and natural. 

The eminence of Moriah,.the Mount of 
Vision, that is, the height seen afar from 
the adjacent country, which tradition pointed 
out as the spot w^here Abraham had offered 
his son, rose on the east side of the city. 
Its rugged top was levelled with immense 
labour; its sides, which, on the east and 
south, were precipitous, were faced with a 
wall of stone, built up perpendicularly from 
the bottom of the valley to a terrific 




158 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 159 

height— a work of prodigious skill and 
labour, as the immense stones were strongly 
morticed together and wedged into the 
rock. Around the whole area thus levelled, 
, was a solid wall, A A A A, of great height and 
strength, within which was an open court, 
B B B B, to which the Gentiles as well as Jews 
had access, and which was thence called 
the court of the Gentiles. A second wall 
encompassed a quadrangular space, C C C C, 
which was called the court of the IsraeliteSj 
into which no Gentile was permitted to go. 
Within this again was another wall, D, sepa- 
rating the court of the Israelites, E, from the 
court of the priests, F. To each court the 
ascent was by steps, so that the platform of 
the inner court was considerably elevated 
above that of the outer court, and thus the 
whole range was exhibited in bold relief to 
the eye of the beholder. 

The proper temple, G G, was approached 



160 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

through a similar range of courts, and 
was itself the wonder of the world ; rather, 
however, from the splendour of its mate- 
rials and decorations, and the mysterious 
symbols it contained, than from either the 
grace, boldness, or majesty, of its appear- 
ance. It was thirty-five feet in width, 
and consisted of a vestibule, a temple, and 
a sanctuary — or the porch, H, the holy 
place, I, and the holy of holies, 0. In the 
front, on either side of the main entrance, 
stood a pillar of brass, which, with capital 
and base, rose to the height of sixty feet. 
The capitals of these were of the richest 
materials and most curious workmanship. 
The length of the holy place was seventj' 
feet, and of the holy of holies thirty-five 
feet, making (without the porch) one hun- 
dred and five feet. Along each side (and 
perhaps in rear of the main building) ran a 
corridor, or aisle, divided into three stories 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 161 

of small chambers, which were used for 
various purposes connected with the temple 
service. In every part gold was lavished 
with the utmost profusion — within and with- 
out, the floor, the walls, the ceiling, in 
short, the whole house was overlaid with 
gold — the jfinest and purest of which, (that 
of Parvaim, supposed by some to be Cey- 
lon,) was used for the sanctuary. The 
sumptuous veil, which divided the holy of 
holies from the holy place, was suspended 
by chains of gold; and wherever the eye 
roved over the building, or its decorations 
or its furniture ; whether it rested on curious 
carved work, or the rich embroidery, or the 
implements of worship, it was wearied with 
beholding the magnificence and splendour 
of the whole scene. 

We have purposely avoided any minute 
description of the divisions and dimensions 
of the sacred edifice and its various courts, 



162 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

because there is no sufficient warrant for 
making one that would be useful or satis- 
factory; and it is, perhaps, neither an 
irreverent nor an impertinent suggestion, 
that as the object and uses of this magnifi- 
cent structure were so utterly inferior and 
subservient to the system of purely spiritual 
worship which the gospel has revealed, no 
complete plan of it should be preserved ; but 
that its grandeur should be learned from the 
materials and labour employed, and from frag- 
mentary and disjointed sketches of its parts. 
Before we proceed to an account of the 
dedication of the temple, which is the next 
important era in the reign of Solomon, we 
will advert for a moment to some interesting 
facts lately made known by a distinguished 
American traveller, whose biblical researches 
have thrown much light upon the antiquities 
of Judea.* 

* Dr. Robinson. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 163 

It is considered as a point well estab- 
lished, that the present grand mosque of 
Omar embraces the site of Solomon's tem- 
ple. The upper portion of the external 
walls of this work is evidently of modern 
origin, but to the most casual observer it 
cannot be less obvious that those huge 
blocks which appear only in sections of the 
lower part, are to be referred to an earlier 
date. The appearance of the walls in 
almost every part seems to indicate that 
they have been built upon ancient founda- 
tions; as if an ancient and far more mas- 
sive wall had been thrown down, and in 
later times a new one erected upon its re- 
mains. At the south-east corner of the 
enclosure are several courses, alternating 
with each other, in which the stones mea- 
sure from seventeen to nineteen feet in 
length, and one block is seven and a half 

feet thick. At the north-east corner a stone 
13 



164 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

is found measuring twenty-four feet in 
length ; and on the west side, next above 
the surface 'of the ground, is a stone mea- 
suring thirty feet and ten inches in length 
by six and a half broad, and several others 
varying from twenty and a half to twentj^- 
four and a half feet long by five in thick- 
ness. The jutting out of several of these 
large stones from the western wall, seemed 
at first sight to have been produced by some 
violent convulsion ; they were afterwards 
found to occupy their proper position. 
Their external surface being hewn to a 
Tegular curve, and being fitted to each 
other with singular exactness, they form the 
basis of an immense arch, on w^hich rested 
the bridge, which is several times mentioned 
by Josephus. The existence of these re- 
mains of the foundation of the ancient 
bridge, seems to remove all doubt as to the 
identity of this part of the enclosure of the 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 165 

mosque with that of the ancient temple.^ 
Ages upon ages have since rolled away, yet 
these foundations still endure and are im- 
moveable as at the beginning ; nor is there 
any thing in the present condition of these 
remains to make it at all improbable that 
they will continue as long as the w^orld 
shall last. It was the temple of the living 
God, and, like the everlasting hills on which 
it stood, its foundations were laid '^ for all 
time." The exploration of three sides of 
the wall of the mosque — the western, eastern, 



* We think there can be no doubt, that though 
the existence of this ancient bridge had been be- 
fore mentioned, and though the ruins of the arch 
had been before discovered, it was left for our es- 
teemed countryman, the Eev. Dr. Robinson, to con- 
nect and identify, on the spot, the ruins of this arch 
with the ancient bridge, and " thus to fix a definite 
and imperishable landmark from which to trace 
out and settle beyond controversy many most im- 
portant points in the archeology and topography 
of the holy city." 



166 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 



and southern — led Dr. Robinson irresistibly 
to the conclusion, that the area of the Jew- 
ish temple was identical in those times with 
the present enclosure of the harem. 

The facts, thus clearly exposed, do not 
clash at all with the alleged utter subver- 
sion of the temple. Our Saviour's attention 
being called especially to the ^' stones and 
building," said, " there shall not be left 
one stone upon another that shall not be 
thrown down." This language was used 
respecting the " buildings of the temple," 
the splendid fane itself, and its magnificent 
porticoes; and in this sense the prophecy 
has been terribly fulfilled, even to the ut- 
most letter. There can be no doubt that 
there was as complete a demolition of the 
city and the temple as it was possible to 
effect. The conquerors would naturally 
prosecute the work of destruction in such 
a manner that the ruins would accumulate 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 167 

around and upon the deep foundations, and 
thus protect them from bemg dug up, and 
when the temple was afterwards rebuilt, noth- 
ing would be sought beyond a firm founda- 
tion for the new walls, wdiether it were the 
natural rock or the remains of a former 
structure. Indeed, recent discoveries would 
almost incline us to think that even the 
natural rock itself might be much less eli- 
gible for a foundation than the artificial 
work of ancient mechanics, for Mr. Gliddon^ 
the Egyptian antiquary, assures us that in 
the masonry of the pyramids a cement was 
employed not thicker than silver paper, and 
so nicely inserted that the line of it is 
scarcely discernible, and yet so adhesive 
that when a huge block was broken by a 
violent concussion, the fracture was in the 
substance of the stone and not in the joint ! 
But it is time we had dismissed these 

curious inquiries. We have prosecuted 
13* 



168 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 



them merely for the purpose of making the 
imposing edifice, whose consecration to the 
service of God we are about to describe, 
seem more real. It cannot but give us a 
more actual and lively impression of the 
whole history, to know that one of our fel- 
low-citizens has seen and measured some 
of the stones which constituted the foun- 
dation of Solomon's temple, and which 
were hewn and squared by the subjects or 
allies of that renowned king. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 169 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Dedication of the Temple. 

The building of the temple occupied, as 
we have seen, between seven and eight 
years. It was finished in the year of the 
world 3000, but was not dedicated till the 
following year. It may be readily sup- 
posed that a national work, so magnificent, 
so expensive, and so intimately connected 
with the civil and religious duties and 
privileges of the Jewish people, was 
watched, through all the stages of its pro- 
gress, with intense interest. And when at 
length it was completed and furnished with 
appropriate implements of worship, it was 
presented to the people as the object to 
which their eyes and hearts should thence- 
forth instinctively turn with all the zeal of 



170 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

patriotism and all the fervour of devotion. 
The interest in the ceremony of its dedi- 
cation must have been deep and universal. 
Before that event it was necessary to re- 
move the ark and other holy vessels which 
had been used in the moveable tabernacle 
to their proper place in the new edifice. 
For this purpose the king assembled at 
Jerusalem the elders and chiefs of tribes, 
and probably the leading men of the coun- 
try, both civil and military. People of all 
classes were also drawn thither from in- 
terest or curiosity, and so great was the 
multitude that one might have supposed 
that the whole population of the country 
had collected at the capitol. 

The ARK, as we well know^, was the most 
sacred of the temple-vessels. The Levites 
alone were appointed to bear it from place 
to place, and a profane touch, or even ap- 
proach to it, was an offence punishable with 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 171 

instant death. It was now to be placed in the 
most holy sanctuary, where a suitable space 
had been reserved for it, directly beneath the 
cherubim, so that the wings of those images 
completely overshadowed it. The sacred 
historian informs us, that not only the king, 
and the priests, and elders, attended this 
ceremony, but that the people, in one vast 
throng, preceded the ark as it was borne 
upon the shoulders of the Levites, while 
oxen and sheep without number were sac- 
rijficed during the progress of the procession! 
The sacred vessel being safely conveyed to 
its appropriate place, the officiating priests 
withdrew from the most holy apartment. 

In the mean time the temple choir, 
chosen, instructed, and led according to 
the express appointment of God, took their 
station on the east of the great altar. The 
number is not definitely stated, but it is 
clearly intimated that it was a very large 



172 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

assemblage of professional musicians, vocal 
and instrumental. They were all arrayed 
in white linen, and to add to the imposing 
grandeur of the scene, one hundred and 
twenty priests, with silver trumpets, joined 
the choir; and when these hundred and 
twenty trumpets were sounded, and the 
voices of the multitude of singers were 
lifted up, accompanied with cymbals, psal- 
teries, and harps, it was but as one mighty 
voice of thanksgiving and glory to God — 

Praise the Lord, for he is good ; 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 

The anthem rolled through the vast area, 
and was sounded long and loud by a thou- 
sand echoes, from aisles and courts and 
avenues and vaulted ceilings — 

Praise the Lord, for he is good ; 

For his mercy endureth for ever — 

wdien suddenly the great Jehovah, the 
mighty God of Jacob, manifested his pre- 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 173 

sence. A cloud of glory filled, not only 
the holy of holies, where the symbol of the 
invisible deity had just been deposited, but 
spread through the temple and pervaded 
all its courts, so that the priests were con- 
strained to desist from their ministrations, 
and every heart was filled with amazement 
and solemn awe. 

It is very difficult for us to form any just 
conception of this w^onderful exhibition of 
God's presence. God is presented to us 
as an object of faith and not of sight. The 
new and better dispensation under which 
we live, needs not the aid of sense to en- 
force its obligations, to prove its divine 
origin, or to illustrate its superiority. Jesus 
Christ, who is the brightness of the Father's 
glory and the express image of his person, 
reveals Him to us with a clearness and 
power far exceeding any visible manifesta- 
tion with which the people of Israel were 



174 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

favoured. The miraculous indications of 
his presence to his servants, in ancient 
times, were calculated to fill the mind with 
terror. The burning bush, the pillar of 
fire and cloud, the blackness of darkness 
settling on the heights of Sinai, were 
fitted to fill the stoutest heart with dis- 
may. Even the overshadowing of the 
mount of transfiguration so terrified the dis- 
ciples who witnessed it, that they fell on 
their faces ! But the blood of Jesus, which 
was so soon afterwards shed for the sins 
of the world, speaks of peace and love. 
Its voice is a voice of mercy, bidding us 
repent, believe, and live for ever ! 

The king w^as of course preserft, and in- 
tensely interested in the services we have 
described ; and when he saw the tokens 
of God's presence, he exclaimed — 

" The Lord hath said that he would 
dwell in the thick darkness, but I have 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 175 

built a house of habitation for thee, and a 
place for thy dwelling for ever." 

Then turning his face towards the im- 
mense congregation standing in thick, far- 
reaching ranks, before him, he recapitulated 
the leading events in the erection of the 
edifice which was thenceforth to be hal- 
lowed by the peculiar presence of Jehovah, 
the God of Israel, in the following words : 

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who hath 
with his hands fulfilled that which he spake with 
his mouth to my father David, saying, Since the 
day that I brought forth my people out of the land 
of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of 
Israel to build an house in, that my name might be 
there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over 
my people Israel: but I have chosen Jerusalem, 
that my name might be there ; and have chosen 
David to be over my people Israel. Now it was in 
the heart of David my father to build an house for 
the name of the Lord God of Israel. But the 
Lord said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was 
in thine heart to build an house for my name, thou 
didst well in that it was in thine heart : notwith- 
standing thou shalt not build the house; but thy 
14 



176 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he 
shall build the house for my name. The Lord 
therefore hath performed his word that he hath 
spoken : for I am risen up in the room of David 
my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as 
the LoRB promised, and have built the house for the 
name of the Lord God of Israel. And in it have 
I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, 
that he hath made with the children of Israel." 

The supernatural tokens of the divine 
presence were probably withdrawn before 
this address of the king to the congregation, 
but their minds were, nevertheless, so 
deeply impressed with the solemnity and 
grandeur of the whole scene, as to prepare 
them, in some degree, for the extraordinary 
exercise that followed. We must imagine 
ourselves to be in the midst of the dense 
multitude that thronged every niche and 
passage of the temple. A scaffold, or 
moveable platform, of brass, seven or eight 
feet square, and raised perhaps four or five 
feet from the floor, had been prepared ex- 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 177 

pressly for the occasion, and was placed 
before the altar. The king ascended this 
platform, and spreading forth his hands in 
presence of all the congregation of Israel, 
he kneeled down, and in the spirit of devout 
supplication uttered the following prayer * 

" O Lord God of Israel, tha-e is no God like thee 
in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest 
covenant, and showest mercy unto thy servants, that 
walk before thee with all their hearts : thou which 
hast kept with thy servant David my father that 
which thou hast promised him ; and spakest with 
thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as 
it is this day. Now therefore, O Lord God of 
Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that 
which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall 
not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the 
throne of Israel ; yet so that thy children take heed 
to their way to walk in my law, as thoa hast walked 
before me. Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let 
thy word be verified, which thou hast spoken unto 
thy servant David. 

But will God in very deed dwell with men on the 
earth ] behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens 
cannot contain thee; how much less this house 
which I have built ! Have respect therefore to the 



178 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, 
Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and the 
prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee : that 
thine eyes may be open ppon this house day and 
night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that 
thou wouldest put thy name there; to hearken unto 
the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this 
place. Hearken therefore unto the supplications 
of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they 
shall make toward this place : hear thou from thy 
dwelling place, even from heaven ; and when thou 
hearest, forgive. 

"If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath 
be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath 
come before thine altar in this house; then hear 
thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, 
by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way 
upon his own head ; and by justifying the righteous, 
by giving him according to his righteousness. 

"And if thy people Israel be put to the worse 
before the enemy, because they have sinned against 
thee ; and shall return and confess thy name, and 
pray and make supplication before thee in this 
house; then hear thou from the heavens, and for- 
give the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them 
again unto the land which thou gavest to them and 
to their fathers. 

" When the heaven is shut up, and there is no 
rain, because they have sinned against thee ; yet if 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 179 

they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, 
-and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them ; 
then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of 
thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou 
hast taught them the good way, wherein they should 
walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou 
hast given unto thy people for an inheritance. 

"If there be dearth in the land, if there be pes- 
tilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locusts or 
caterpillars ; if their enemies besiege them in the 
cities of their land ; whatsoever sore or whatsoever 
sickness there he : then what prayer or what suppli- 
cation soever shall be made of any man, or of all 
thy people Israel, when every one shall know his 
own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth 
his hands in this house ; then hear thou from hea- 
ven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render 
unto every man according unto all his ways, whose 
heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the 
hearts of the children of men ;) that they may fear 
thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in 
the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. 

"Moreover concerning the stranger, which is 
not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far 
country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty 
hand, and thy stretched out arm ; if they come and 
pray in this house ; then hear thou from the hea- 
vens, even from thy dwelling place, and do accord- 
ing to all that the stranger calleth to thee for ; that 

14* 



180 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

all people of the earth may know thy name, and 
fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know 
that this house which I have built is called by thy 
name. 

"If thy people go out to war against their ene- 
mies by the way that thou shalt send them, and 
they pray unto thee toward this city which thou 
hast chosen, and the house which I have built for 
thy name ; then hear thou from the heavens their 
prayer and their supplication, and maintain their 
cause. 

"If they sin against thee, (for there is no man 
which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, 
and deliver them over before their enemies, and 
they carry them away captives unto a land far off 
or near; yet if they bethink themselves in the land 
whither they are carried captive, and turn and pray 
unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, 
We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have 
dealt wickedly; if they return to thee with all their 
heart and with all their soul in the land of their 
captivity, whither they have carried them captives, 
and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto 
their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast 
chosen, and toward the house which I have built 
for thy name : then hear thou from the heavens, 
even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their 
supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive 
thy people which have sinned against thee. 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 181 

" Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thme eyes be 
open, and let thine ears he attent unto the prayer 
that is made in this place. Now therefore arise, O 
Lord God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark 
of thy strength: let thy priests, O Lord God, be 
clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in 
goodness. O Lord God, turn not away the face of 
thine anointed: remember the mercies of David 
thy servant." 

At the close of this prayer the king rose 

from his knees, and standing forth , with a 

loud voice thus blessed all the congregation 

of Israel: 

"Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto 
his people Israel, according to all that he promised : 
there hath not failed one word of all his good pro- 
mise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his 
servant. The Lord our God be with us, as he was 
v/ith our fathers : let him not leave us, nor forsake 
us : that he may incline our hearts unto him, to 
walk in all his ways, and to keep his command- 
ments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which 
he commanded our fathers. And let these my 
words, wherewith I have made supplication before 
the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day and 
night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, 
and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as 



182 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

the matter shall require : that all the people of 
the earth may know that the Loud is God, and thai 
there is none else. Let your heart therefore be per- 
fect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, 
and to keep his commandments, as at this day." 

At the close of this solemn benediction 
another wonderful manifestation of the di- 
vine presence was seen. Fire descended 
from heaven, and falling upon the sacrifices 
which had been prepared and laid upon 
the altar, consumed them to ashes ! Such 
a token of God's acceptance of the temple, 
and of the dedicatory service which had 
just been performed, struck the beholders 
with amazement. The brightness of the 
flame filled the place as with the glory of 
the Lord, and we are not surprised that 
those who witnessed a scene so awfully 
grand and impressive, bowed themselves 
with their faces to the ground upon the 
pavement, while they worshipped and 
praised the Lord, saying — 




II 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 185 

Foa HE is GOOD ; for his mercy endureth 

FOR EVER. 

These memorable services were closed 
by a general sacrifice of oxen and sheep. 
So great was the number of offerings, that 
the middle of the court was specially ap- 
propriated and hallowed, that there might 
be room for the immense oblation ; and for 
several successive days the temple was 
filled with crowds of worshippers, praising 
God with their voices, and with instru- 
ments of music, and presenting their sacri- 
fices and offerings at his altar 



186 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Fall of Solomon. 



• 



The great work of building, furnishings 
and dedicating, the temple, having been 
thus happily accomplished, and the divine 
approbation having been so signally ex- 
pressed, the king of Israel might well feel 
as if his cup of blessings was full; but 
there was yet another and a crowning favour 
in reserve for him, and that was a direct 
testimony from God, to himself, personally^ 
that his service was accepted : such a testi- 
mony as was given to him at Gibeon, be- 
fore he entered upon his eventful reign. 
This also was vouchsafed to him. The 
sacred history informs us that the Lord ap- 
peared to Solomon by night, and said unto 
him: 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 187 

"I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this 
place to myself for an house of sacrifice. If I 
shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I com- 
mand the locusts to devour the land, or if I send 
pestilence among my people ; if my people, which 
are called by name, shall humble themselves, and 
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked 
ways ; then will I hear from heaven, and will for- 
give their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine 
eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the 
prayer that is made in this place. For now have I 
chosen and sanctified this house, that my name 
may be there for ever : and mine eyes and mine 
heart shall be there perpetually. 

" And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as 
David thy father walked, and do according to all 
that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my 
statutes and my judgments; then will I stablish the 
throne of thy kingdom, according as I have cove- 
a anted with David thy father,* saying. There shall 
not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel. 

"But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes 

* This covenant David himself recognises, in 
beautiful terms, in the cxxxii, of his Psalms : 

"The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he 
v/ill not turn from it ; of the fruit of thy body will 
I set upon thy throne. His enemies will I clothe 
with shame: but upon himself shall his crown 
Nourish." 



188 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

and my commandments, which I have set before 
you, and shall go and serve other gods, and wor- 
ship them ; then will I pluck them up by the roots 
out of my land which I have given them; and this 
house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I 
cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a pro- 
verb and a byword among all nations. And this 
house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to 
every one that passeth by it ; so that he shall say, 
Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and 
unto this house 1 And it shall be answered. Be- 
cause they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, 
which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, 
and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, 
and served them : therefore hath he brought all 
this evil upon them." 

The particulars of this covenant of God 
with Solomon, would be well worth an ex- 
amination, if this were the place for it ; 
but we can only observe, in passing, that 
the equity and goodness which shine so 
conspicuously in these promises, present 
themselves in striking contrast to the rebel- 
lion and ingratitude by which they were * 
all forfeited; and, we may add, that the 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 189 

dreadful threatenings which were uttered on 
that occasion, to deter Solomon and his sub- 
jects from corruption and idolatry, were 
executed with fearful exactness, God is 
not a man that he should lie ; nor the son 
of man that he should repent or change his 
purposes. Yet how prone we are to forget 
that God's blessing is not more inseparably 
connected with obedience to his command- 
ments, than his frown and curse are with 
disobedience and perverseness ! 

It is a peculiarity of the sacred volume, 
that the most striking and important events 
in the rise and fall of individuals and na- 
tions, such as would furnish materials for 
many volumes of modern history, are re- 
corded in half a dozen lines, or, at most, a 
few verses. The forty years' reign of So- 
lomon could be well printed in a twopenny 
book, and the annals of the seventeen years' 
reign of his son and successor, Rehoboam,. 
15 



190 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

would scarcely cover a sheet of letter 
paper ! 

But the peculiarity to which we refer is 
most strikingly seen in the history of Solo- 
mon's career and fall. The leading events 
of his highly prosperous and illustrious reign 
,are chronicled with. as much particularity as 
is usual with the sacred historians. The 
temple, associated as it was, not only with 
the glory and power of the nation, but still 
more closely and sacredly with the pre- 
sence and service of the King of kings, is 
described with extraordinary minuteness. 
The place which that building occupied in 
the reverence and affections of the people, 
is sufficiently indicated in their subsequent 
history, actual and prophetic. When, in 
the time of Zerubbabel, the foundation of 
a new temple was laid, there was the closest 
practicable imitation of the imposing cere- 
monies with which the temple of Solomon 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 191 

was dedicated. They praised God in 
songs and on instruments of music, but it 
was not that deep unbroken tribute of 
adoration and praise which filled the first 
temple, when the ark of the covenant had 
been brought home, and the God of Israel 
appeared in a bright cloud of glory, and 
accepted the yows and offerings of His 
people. 

There were present in ZerubbabePs day, 
aged priests, Levites, and elders, who had 
seen the glory of that former house, and had 
witnessed (if they had not passed through) 
the fearful revolutions which had broup^ht 
it to ruin and desolation. These felt that 
the glory of their nation was extinguished. 
The ark, the heavenly fire, the visible pre- 
sence of Jehovah, were no longer their's ; 
and when the young and ardent shouted 
aloud with joy and transport at the prospect 
of renewing the glories and privileges of a 



192 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

former age, the old men wept with a loud 
and bitter cry. Who can conceive of a 
more sublime exhibition of conflicting pas- 
sions! A whole people assembled on an 
occasion of so much interest, and swayed 
by a tide of such opposite and powerful 
emotions ! The wailing of grief and the 
glad shout of joy, mingling in many thou- 
sand voices, so that '' the people could not 
discern the noise of the shout of joy from 
the noise of the weeping of the people." 
This single incident amply illustrates the 
reason why so much prominence is given 
in the annals of Solomon's reign to the 
building of the temple. 

Besides this grand achievement, we have 
some details of the splendour of his court, 
the extent of his possessions and political 
alliances, the repute in which he was held 
by foreign States, the wars in which he was 
involved near the close of his reign, and 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 193 

his fall and death. All these facts and events, 
together with the minute history of the erec- 
tion and dedication of the temple, are re- 
corded in less than ten pages of the Bible ! 

But it is especially in reference to the 
inglorious termination of his career that the 
sacred history is so strikingly concise. We 
are told that Solomon became a licentious 
man and an idolater ! Yes — he whose hon- 
ourable and exalted office it was to prepare 
so magnificent a temple for the Holy One 
of Israel, and who was favoured with such 
wonderful tokens, not only of the divine 
acceptance of his work and service, but of 
the glorious presence of the only living and 
true God — the great king Solomon, became 
the builder of temples and altars for the 
gods of the heathen, and a partaker of 
their abominations ! 

We are informed that king Solomon 

15* 



194 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

loved many strange or foreign women, be- 
side his true and proper wife : 

" But king Solomon loved many strange women, 
together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of 
the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, 
and Hittites; of the nations concerning which the 
Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not 
go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you ; 
for surely they will turn away your heart after 
their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. 
And he had seven hundred wives (princesses) and 
three hundred concubines : and his wives turned 
away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solo- 
mon was old, that his wives turned away his heart 
after other gods : and his heart was not perfect 
with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David 
his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the 
goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the 
abomination of the Ammonites. xA.nd Solomon did 
evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully 
after the Lord, as did David his father. Then did 
Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the 
abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before 
Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the 
children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all 
his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacri- 
ficed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 195 

with Solomon, because his heart was turned from 
the Lord God of Israel." 

It was to polygamy (or the having many 
wives) that Solomon's fall is chiefly to be 
ascribed — a sin which has ever been fatal 
to domestic peace and the public welfare. 
No private history could show its evil and 
debasing influence more strikingly than that 
of Solomon. And so surprising does it 
seem, that one gifted with supernatural wis- 
dom, and the author of such emphatic 
warnings against licentiousness, should him- 
self have fallen by it, that some have sup- 
posed he repented and turned to God at 
the last, and then wrote those most impres- 
sive cautions with which some portion of 
his writings abound. How far the scriptures 
justify such a conclusion, it is not our pro- 
vince to determine.* 

* The aggravating circumstances of his fall are 
alluded to by Nehemiah, in his appeal to the peo- 



196 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

"The Lord was angry with Solomon, because 
his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, 
which had appeared unto him twice, and had com- 
manded him concerning this thing, that he should 

pie against intermarrying with those of other na- 
tions : 

" Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these 
things 1 Yet among many nations was there no 
king like him, who was beloved of his God, and 
God made him king over all Israel : nevertheless 
even him did outlandish women cause to sin." 

We have seen a defence of Solomon's charac- 
ter against the assaults of infidels and skeptics, 
which, in the main, seems to be warranted by 
the history. The following will show the sub- 
stance of the argument : 

It is to be observed that it was only when Solo- 
mon was old that his wives turned away his heart 
after other gods. Solomon was but fifty-eight or 
sixty when he died ; and if he was old when his 
wdves turned away his heart, this sad apostasy 
would have been only a few years before the close 
of his life. Again, Solomon appears to have still 
maintained the temple service. Further, when it 
is said that his heart was not perfect with the Lord 
his God as was the heart of David his father, it is 
implied that he did serve God, but not perfectly as 
David did. Still farther it is said that his wives 
sacrificed and burnt incense to other gods, not that 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 197 

not go after other gods : but he kept not that which 
the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said 
unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, 
and thou hast not kept my covenant and my 

Solomon did so, though Solomon built high places 
for them to do it. 

It is not the manner of Scripture history to flatter 
good men, nor to gild the close of their days. But 
the book of Ecclesiastes, the work of Solomon 
under divine inspiration, seems to have been com- 
posed in his old age. Its words are apparently 
those of an old man, of one who had such experi- 
ence as Solomon had passed through at the close 
of his life. He says, "I have seen all the works 
that are done under the sun, yea my heart had 
great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And 
I give my heart to know wisdom, and to know 
madness and folly." He had known wisdom in 
his earlier life ; and he had known madness and 
folly at its close. He had now passed through a 
thorough experience of a course of wisdom, and 
of what may be called the wisest folly ; and from 
his whole experience he proclaims all which this 
world can afford, without religion, to be vanity and 
vexation of spirit. He seems, indeed, in the 
seventh chapter, to speak of his experience in re- 
spect to his many wives. " I applied mine heart to 
know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and 



198 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

Statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will 
surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give 
it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I 
will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will 

the reason of things, and to know the wickedness 
of folly, even of foolishness and madness : and I 
find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart 
IS snares and nets, and her hands as bands: 
whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her ; but the 
sinner shall be taken by her. Behold, this have I 
found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, 
to find out the account : which yet my soul seek- 
eth, but I find not: one man among a thousand 
have I found ; but a woman among all those have 
I not found." He does not speak against all 
women, but against such women as he had col- 
lected. He commends the true and Christian law 
of marriage, — union with one wife. " Live joyfully 
with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy 
vanity." 

We may go one step further, and observe that 
the men who stood before Solomon as his advisers 
at the close of his life were wise men. Such they 
were found to be when Rehoboam consulted them 
at the beginning of his reign. 

On the whole we may look upon Solomon as a 
great, wise, and good man. His reign was a glorious 
one for Israel. It was a great blessing to that nation, 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 199 

rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will 
not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one 
tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and 
for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen." 

It was not long before the unhappy mo- 
narch severely felt the rod of punishment, 
though it was from very indirect and un- 
expected quarters. (1.) In a general mas- 
sacre of the male population of Edom, 
which took place in David's reign, a little 
child, named Hadad, escaped almost mi- 

and to the world. It was thought worthy of being 
a type of the reign of Christ on earth, as may be 
seen in the beautiful seventy-second Psalm. He 
was chosen to build the temple and establish its 
service. That temple stood for several hundred 
years ; and that religious service was maintained 
with some interruptions, and some changes, and 
with some measures of divine influence, until 
Christ gave new ordinances to his people. In So- 
lomon's writings too, specially in Proverbs, we 
have the best instruction ; and here are the most 
earnest warnings against such errors as Solomon 
fell into. The divine wisdom appears manifest in 
giving to the world such writings by such a man. 



200 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

raculously, and fled to Egypt. Here he 
was so prospered that he rose to great fa- 
vour, and became connected with the royal 
family, by marrying the sister of the queen. 
Hearing of the death of David and Joab, 
whose names were associated in his mind 
with the massacre of his kindred and coun- 
trymen, he resolved to return and recover 
his paternal inheritance. The history does 
not inform us in what manner he invaded 
Solomon's kingdom, nor how his hostility 
was manifested, but simply that he was one 
of his adversaries. (2.) Rezon, who cher- 
ished an old grudge against David, was 
another who sought his downfall. (3.) But 
Jeroboam was his most formidable enemy. 
At one time this ambitious and subtle man 
occupied a responsible post in Solomon's 
government. On a certain occasion he left 
the city of Jerusalem, wearing a new gar- 
ment, and when he had gone a short dis- 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 201 

tance he was met by a prophet who wrested 

the garment from hhn and divided it into 

twelve pieces, and said — 

"Take thee ten pieces : for thus saith the Lord, 
the God of Israel, Behold ! I will rend the kingdom 
out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten 
tribes to thee : (but he shall have one tribe for my 
servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the 
city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of 
Israel ;) because that they have forsaken me, and 
have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zi- 
donians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and 
Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and 
have not walked in my ways, to do that luhick is 
right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my 
judgments, as did David his father. Howbeit I 
will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand : 
but I will make him prince all the days of his life 
for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because 
he kept my commandments and my statutes: but 
I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and 
v/ill give it unto thee, even ten tribes. And unto 
his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant 
may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, 
the city which I have chosen me to put my name 
there. And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign 
according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be 
king over Israel. And it shall be, if thou wilt 
16 



202 LIFE OF SOLOMON. 

hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt 
walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, 
to keep my statutes and my commandments, as 
David my servant did ; that I will be with thee, and 
build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and 
will give Israel unto thee. And I will for this 
afflict the seed of David, but not for ever." 

This extraordinary occurrence, coming to 
the knowledge of Solomon, excited his jea- 
lousy and displeasure in a very high degree. 
He probably saw that such an intimation 
would inflame the ambition of Jeroboam ; 
and like other wicked men, who overlook 
the hand of a retributive providence, he 
sought to protect himself by destroying his 
adversary. Finding that a design upon his 
life was entertained, Jeroboam fled into 
Egypt, and remained there till Solomon's 
death, when all that had been intimated by 
the prophet came to pass. 

The hostile invasion of his domains was 
not the only evil with which the falling 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 203 

monarch of Israel had to struggle. The 
vast expense of his household, the neglect 
of public and private affairs, which was the 
necessary consequence of his licentious life, 
and the extravagance and luxury which are 
inseparable from a corrupt court, all com- 
bined to force new burdens upon the peo- 
ple. It was soon apparent that the decline 
of the nation's glory and strength was 
likely to be as rapid as had been its advance 
to the pinnacle of prosperity and fame. 
But the downward career was not to be 
checked. The nation in its representative 
power, and probably by popular degeneracy 
and corruption, had offended God, and its 
destiny was inevitable. Solomon the great, 
the wise, the powerful king of Israel, after 
a reign of forty years, slept with his fathers, 
and was buried in the city of David. 
Would that he had closed his public life as 
he began it, in the fear and service of God ! 



204 



LIFE OF SOLOMON. 



Would that his example, from his accession 
to the throne till the hour of his dissolution, 
had been like Josiah's. 

Surely, the wisest are fools — the strong- 
est are weak — the noblest are vile — unless 
their wisdom and strength and glory are all 
from God ! 




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